PMD:Joutei! v2
by 2percent
Summary: -
1. 1:1 A New World

… Okay, this is a redo of **PMD: Joutei!** …And I already can't think of anything to say. Gagh.

**I do not claim ownership of Pokémon or any related franchise, only this fic and my OCs.**

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"A..."

The celebi floated over the human, worry evident in her eyes.

"I wonder... what... is one... of you doing... here?" he asked, coughing up blood between his words.

The celebi bowed her head. "I... I'm sorry. I should've helped you, but..."

"Help... me?" The human struggled stand up, lifting himself on his arms. They buckled under his weight, leaving him to collapse back onto the ground. "Why would... a being... such as you... help me?" he gasped out, almost sounding like a chuckle.

The celebi looked sadly at the pool of blood around the human. "...You... I'll try to explain later," she said as her hands took on a white glow. "But now, I have to correct the mistake I made long ago."

The human looked at her, uncomprehendingly.

"...I'm sorry!" There was a blinding flash. When it faded away, the human was gone, and the celebi floated over an emtpty puddle of blood, panting.

"Tsk. You've certainly done it this time."

The celebi's eyes widened as she whirled around, only to see a blank void. She gasped and looked to the front again. The blood and, in fact, all the surroundings had disappeared, leaving only that void, but that wasn't her focus. "Y-Y-You!" she stammered in fear.

"Honestly, after last time, is it so unthinkable that we would be keeping careful watch over you?"

"But-But you have to understand!" she cried. "I only wanted to fix everything! I thought, if I sent him, then..."

"Then what?"

"I..."

"You just as little idea of the consequences of your actions as you did that first time. It may very well be even more catastrophic."

"But... If you just let me talk to him... You could've just let me talk to the first one! And none of that would've happened in the first place! You could've even stopped me yourse-!"

A deafening roar interrupted her. "Know your place, celebi! You know just as well as I how delicate time is! Even I cannot just meddle with it however I like!"

"...I..."

"Enough. We shall do what we have brought you here to do," Another voice stated.

"You-You don't mean..."

"You are now stripped of all the powers we have given you."

"..."

"And as for the human..."

000

A sleeping figure stirred.

He silently stood up, rubbing at the pounding headache. _Just what did I do last night?_ he wondered. He sighed, rubbing his eyes with his paws. He blinked. _I have paws… And a muzzle. _He looked down. _Orange legs, the orange is fur, beige belly… my arms also have fur, paws… blue fins… _He looked behind him. _Two beige spots, two tails…_ He felt around his neck. _Some rubbery collar-thing…_

…

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?!" he cried, standing up, his paws flying across his body to make sure it was real. It was real. He was a buizel.

"Calm down for a moment," He finally said, slapping himself in the face. "Last night I… I… Damn it!! I can't remember anything! What kind of sick joke is this?!?" He cried, grabbing his head. There was one hope left. He turned to the tree that stood behind him.

"Wake up!" He slammed the top of his head into the bark, causing a loud thump. A few leaves were shaken loose. He brought his reeling head back as the fluttering leaves danced circles around him.

"Damn it… not a dream…" he muttered as the last stars faded away. "Just exactly what is going on? I just woke up, I'm a pokémon, and I can't remember anything. This sounds like the plotline for a video game…" he grumbled, sitting down. _Wait, I remember my name… Pace. That was it. Pace._ He sighed again. _That's a start._

Something hit his head again, causing an involuntary snarl to escape his lips. "The hell was that!? It's still sore!" he roared up the tree. He blinked. It was empty. _Wait, there's something..._ Another seed hit him on the back of the head, harder. Growling, he whirled around.

A pair of pachirisu glared back at him. One grabbed another seed from the ground and hurled it at him with surprising speed. He barely dodged, stepping to the side, when suddenly, another nut crashed down on his skull. "This is too annoying," he grumbled, looking up. Nothing.

_I don't get it. They're coming from two directions._ He looked back at the pachirisu, both of whom were collecting more projectiles. The answer hit him. _One's been aiming straight for me while the other lobs it above. Tricky bastards._

"Go away!" one roared (as well as a pachirisu could roar) as the two started their combo again. Pace was so surprised that the faster seed pegged him right between the eyes. The overhead shot missed, fortunately. "Wait! Did you just talk!?" he shouted, sitting up, holding the bruise on his face with a paw. _Okay, stupid question. I'm a pokémon, I can talk, why can't they?_

He received no spoken reply. They both picked up another nut each. "Like hell I'll let you," He growled. He picked up one of the seeds strewn around him. "Eat this!" he roared, flinging it forward. With a satisfying thunk, the seed bounced off the forehead of the larger pachirisu, knocking him over.

The smaller one gasped. "Brother!" she, as Pace found himself able to tell, cried.

"Brother" quickly got up, growling. "You'll pay!" he spat, blue sparks appearing around his cheeks.

"Shut up! Why the hell were you two throwing stuff at me in the first place!?!"

The two pachirisu paused, taken aback by his reply. Apparently, they weren't used to their foes talking back to them. "You're trespassing," the larger pachirisu growled, the sparks toning down slightly.

"Trespassing? Is that it? Then let me leave myself! Damn it, I don't even know what I'm doing here," he mumbled angrily, turning away. _But what now? Suddenly, I'm a pokémon lost in a weird forest filled with other territorial pokémon. I need to find out how this happened, why this happened, and how..._ His thoughts were interrupted as another nut whizzed by his head. _Oh, for…_ "Damn it you two, stop throwing things at me!" he snarled, turning around.

The pachirisu ignored Pace, glaring past him. He glanced back, then saw a group of nuzleaf. Aggressive, if their stances were anything to judge by. Pace's eye twitched. _Can this get any worse?_ One of them had simply grabbed the nut tossed by the pachirisu and was casually chewing on it.

"Nuuuzleaf!" one shouted. Pace blinked. _Wait, the pachirisu could talk, but these guys can't? Just what is going on here?_

"More of you? Go away! This is our territory!" the older pachirisu shouted at them. Meanwhile, Pace quickly shuffled away. _Like hell I'm sticking around here._

"Stupids!" the younger one shouted with him.

In response, two of the nuzleaf raised their hands. An orb of light appeared above each, which eventually took on a green hue. They both then brought their hands forward, hurling the nature power attacks at the pachirisu. The electric pokémon easily jumped over the orbs as they collided with the ground, creating a pair of small blasts of green energy. As one, they almost seemed to vanish before slamming into one of the attacking nuzleaf, sending it into a tree.

The three other nuzleaf, without so much as a glance at their fallen comrade, swung their heads, allowing the leaves growing up there to duplicate and fly towards the pachirisu. The razor leaves were again, easily jumped over, but one nuzleaf followed by jumping and pounding the younger with a fist.

"No!" the elder pachirisu shouted, as blue sparks enveloped his body. He threw himself at the nuzleaf, but the spark attack hardly fazed it. It reciprocated with another pound, tossing him away. By now, the nuzleaf who was knocked into the tree had recovered. All four of them grouped together and began to walk towards the stunned pachirisu. They were suddenly halted by a gray shockwave from above. The sonic boom brought up a spray of dirt as the nuzleaf looked up, searching for the source of the attack.

"Hey! Why don't you lot go pick on someone your own size!" Pace roared from the small tree he had climbed up during the brawl. Four nature powers flew at him. "Shit," He muttered, dropping out of the tree before the attacks connected. _How the hell did I do that sonic boom in the first place?_ He smoothly landed on the spongy dirt with his forepaws. _I could've just left- I should've just left- so why in the world did I stick around?_ He internally grumbled as he sidestepped a flurry of razor leaves. He ducked under a nature power and then quickly lept over a mass of the razor leaves aimed at his feet. _Wait, how did I dodge all that? _His musing were cut off as he instinctively rolled to the side, avoiding another two green orbs launched at him.

Suddenly, the electric duo recovered and slammed into the same nuzleaf with another pair of quick attacks. This time, it was out for good. The remaining three, realizing they were now evenly matched, doubled their efforts. One dashed at Pace, who ran away, while the other two started up nature power again. This time, instead of raising the orbs in the air, they held them to the ground. They took a brown hue, then the nuzleaf thrust them into the dirt. A quick wave tore through the mossy ground towards the pachirisu, who were slow to jump over it. Both were sent flying.

Pace, still being pursued by the third nuzleaf, was watching this from the corner of his eye, grimacing. He ducked under another flurry of razor leaves as an idea formed itself in his mind. He suddenly skidded to a stop, turned around, stood up, and raised his arms with a "boo." While he was still short compared to the nuzleaf, it was surprised enough by the maneuver that it tried to skid to a stop. Its momentum disagreed and caused it to fall face-first into the ground, its nose buried in the dirt. The shockwave from the nature power attack continued to rip through the earth, conveniently where the nuzleaf had fallen, and hurled it helplessly into the air.

"Dumbass," Pace grunted, before leaping into the air after the other pokémon. Suddenly, in midair, an odd sensation suddenly flowed through his body. An incredible surge of power, all under his command. _Just like when I used sonic boom…_ A film of water enveloped his body, while a jet of water was forced from behind him, propelling him through the air with greater speed than he could've achieved on foot. With that force, he smashed straight into the airborne nuzleaf. "Aqua Jet!" The weight of the water hurled it away, causing it to bounce off a tree, and land dazed near where the pachirisu had landed. They glanced at it, then simultaneously began to fry it with great blue bolts of electricity. By the time they stopped, the nuzleaf was now a deep, well-done color, and lay still on the ground.

The remaining two nuzleaf, now visibly worried, stepped back with doubt as Pace walked by the electric pokémon' side. _This is really... way too easy__,_ he thought as he faced the two. The nuzleaf put their hands together for another pair of nature powers.

"Like hell we'll let you!" Pace roared. "Eat this!" He twisted around, wildly lashing his tails, creating a series of sonic booms. The pachirisu did a similar motion, and let forth a barrage of shining stars that joined Pace's metallic waves. The combination of attacks pounded the nuzleaf, sending them skidding across forest floor. When they finally came to a stop, they slowly stood up and fled, ignoring their fallen comrades.

"Bastards," Pace growled. "I'm not done with you yet!" He dropped onto all fours and dashed after them. The feeling of power rose through his body again, this time, creating a surge of dark energy around his limbs. His running speed multiplied too greater speeds than even the aqua jet, allowing him to catch up to his foes in a matter of seconds. Right when he was between them, the dark aura shifted, concentrating in his forepaws. With a cry, he heavily pounded both nuzleaf in the head, slamming their faces into the dirt. "Pursuit!" Ineffective against their types as it was, it did the trick. Both foes were out cold.

Pace stood there panting deeply, reveling in his victory. _…Did that seriously just happen? I can't believe it. I won my first fight, and it was way too easy._

"You!"

"Eh?" the older pachirisu was calling to him. Pace blinked in surprise. The pachirisu's face had broken into a wide, friendly grin.

"Come with us," he said, gesturing him over.

"What!? Brother!" the younger objected, scowling. She still didn't like Pace, apparently.

"He helped us," he replied, simply. "We will help him."

"No! We aren't weak! We can win without trespassers!" she protested stubbornly.

"He isn't like other trespassers," he shrugged.

Pace sweat-dropped at the conversation. _What's with these two? _He sighed, scratching under his collar. _Damn, this thing gets hot. …I hope not all the pokémon around here are like those two…_

Meanwhile, the two had finally reached an agreement. "Come," The elder pachirisu called again. The other was looking away. Pace heaved another sigh. _Might as well. It's not like I have anything else to do._ He stood up and walked to the two.

"Do you have names, or do I just call you Number One and Number Two?"

They were silent. "Names?" The younger asked, tilting her head.

Pace's eye twitched. _Gagh._ "My name is Pace. It's what other peop- pokémon call me." _Not that any other pokémon have called me that, yet._

Still, they were confused. Finally, the older one seemed to understand. "Oh! Names! I am Radi! And my sister is Luma," He said. Luma still didn't seem to understand.

"Okay, good. So what do you want, Radi?" Pace stomach growled loudly. He glanced down at it. The moment was so awkward, he could stare blankly.

"To feed you," Radi laughed. Pace blinked. That laughter, light, yet hearty, was probably the first pleasant sound he had heard since his rude awakening not ten minutes ago. "We have food. Follow us," Radi smiled, running of in one direction, right over one of the unconscious nuzleaf.

"Um, what about these guys?" Pace asked, looking at it.

"They will leave. They are stupid, but not that stupid," Radi laughed again, still running. "Hurry!" Luma quickly followed.

Pace sighed, crouching on all fours and dashing over them. _I better find some answers soon._

000

Six figures walked along a dirt path that winded through a sunny forest.

"It's about noon," An odd, small, white canine creature said, looking straight up at the sun, relatively unobstructed by the trees. "That means its break time!" The shaymin grinned to the others.

"Already? Didn't we agree break time was half an hour after noon?" A sableye with entirely black skin asked as he set his shoulder bag down. His eyes were a gleaming silver, and rather than a random assortment of gems, his skin was embedded with a set of small diamonds, positioned like buttons on a double-breasted coat, and a triangular ruby under his neck, giving the appearance of a necktie.

"I'm not complaining," A kirlia, wearing a denim vest, shrugged as he removed his red-and-white single-strap backpack. The vest, as well as his hair, was splotched with several colors of paint. He quickly picked a rock to sit on, then pulled an odd object of the same color from the bag.

"You're going to play us a song?" A dratini asked enthusiastically as the kirlia unfolded the device into what looked like an electric guitar.

"Maybe…" He replied, fiddling around with it.

"It's odd," A larvitar muttered, sitting on the large backpack he had been carrying. "This is our third day on the road and we still haven't reached the next city." His right eye had a large black rhombus-shaped marking around it, while the eye itself was a curious blank white.

"Seriously, you'd think this area would be a bit more populated," The sableye grumbled, unfolding a faded map. "There's a whole lot of food available, and the wilds we've seen aren't particularly strong."

The larvitar shrugged, reaching an arm into one of the backpack's pockets, and pulled out a green, worn-looking book. He began to flip through the pages before settling on one with a folded corner. There was silence, only interrupted by the plunks of the kirlia's guitar.

"The clouds look nice today…" The last figure, a drifloon muttered in a high, dream-like voice.

"Ah… um… Aren't they?" The dratini chuckled, sweat-dropping at the randomness of the comment.

"He's right, you know," The shaymin laughed, floating by her. "Another fine day for Team Joutei." The group sat in silence, looking up at the billowing, cotton shapes in the sky.

* * *

If you haven't read the original version of this fic, skip to the last phrase of this paragraph. I always planned for Rush, the old main character, to go on wondering what his real name was, only to have it revealed to him. Guess what that name was. Yes, Pace. Ironic, no? I can't tell you how many times I started to type Rush and had to replace it with Pace. :P This won't be the only name change. Also, many characters from the old story will eventually return. But not all. Also, I had planned for the larvitar and drifloon to be introduced in the old version. Guess what happens to Radi -_- (Luma- Luminescent, Radi- Radiance, in case you were wondering)

I'm just as open to OCs as last time. Though keep in mind, because the size of Joutei is much smaller, any OCs submitted will probably end up as temporary characters unless I decide I like him/her and get him/her to join the main cast. I already have many characters planned, so know that many species will be taken. And please refrain from using cliché species like eeveelutions, starters, pikachu, etc. Include a name, appearance, a personality description, and (optional) fighting style and/or a brief backstory. If you prefer that some information remain hidden as a plot twist, send it by PM. Otherwise, stick your OC in a review.

One more note, forgive me for blathering, I'm rather proud of my combat scenes, I'm not afraid to say. If you just skipped over it, shame on you. Go back and reread it. If you just can't read it without drifting off, then tell me how to make them more interesting.

Pace is probably going to be the only character to use such colorful language so frequently.

…

Review!

**Edited 10-17-09**

A completely new intro. That leave you lot quite a bit to speculate on. The last scene had a few edits, nothing major. The sableye's, kirlia's, and larvitar's appearances have been updated. ...Yeah.


	2. 1:2 Questions

Woot, four reviews :D

**Jeanne Reveur:** …When I say that out loud, it sounds exactly like "jean reviewer." … *cough* Anyways, that will be a fun character to write. I can see it now: "Stop apologizing!" "I'm sorry!" XD Good times to look forward to. Thanks for reviewing!

**Skroy Horitz:** I question your use of the term _generic_. Well, that's what happens when you read manga. Even the weirdest names start sounding normal. Monkey D. Luffy, Chocolove, Black Star, Train Heartnet, shall I go on? …Anyways, yeah, I fixed that, and I rest assured I still have your OC in mind.

**the book master: ***laughs evilly* the geography of this new region is quite different from my original plan. It will be explained in the next few chapters, but I'm still keeping the three districts. Let's see if I can manage that OC.

**ShadowDragoon32:** …You mean 180, don't you? A 360 means I'm going in the same direction. Well, it's a start. I want to try to leave readers hanging a bit more this time around. I tend to overthink things, a fact people I know never fail to remind me, so most things that happen here happen for a reason. That includes Radi's behavior. Also, your OC… He's pretty much a carbon copy of the absol in **Buwaro'**s _Tales of Flame_. If you've ever read it. Finally, thanks for reviewing!

***punches out random bystander and writes "I do not own Pokémon" over his left eyebrow***

000

Soon, Radi slowed to a stop beneath a large tree, momentarily flashing as he crossed a patch of sunlight. Pace sighed as he stopped and stood up, breathing deeply. He still felt worn-out by the earlier scuffle. He nonchalantly glanced back at Luma as she stopped behind him. The younger pachirisu still would give him a distrusting leer every now and then.

He took another look at his environment. He couldn't remember anything about his former life, but somehow, he knew forests weren't supposed to be like this. The tree Radi was currently climbing, the tallest one in the immediate vicinity, was covered in gray, ash-like bark. A few branches, covered in slightly yellowed five-pointed leaves, waved about. What got Pace worried was the presence of many long, dangling deep green leaves among the maple leaves. _What the hell is this? Grey bark, fall-time maple leaves, and new willow leaves on the same tree?_ And that was just this one tree. Now that Pace wasn't pondering his transformation or running for one reason or another, he now noticed that all the trees seemed to be mutated hybrids of a sort. There was even one that looked like it was growing ferns on one side. Crazy.

"Here!" Radi called, nimbly disappearing on the other side of the freak tree. Pace walked around it until he could see the hole out of which Radi's tail hung. With a heave, he pulled out a large assortment of berries and nuts, along with a few white clumps of fur. Pace kept his distance, well aware of the furballs' potent static charge.

"Hey, do we really need that much? I mean…" He trailed off, blinking. Radi quickly stopped, jumped down, and joined Luma in madly munching away at the various fruit. _Wow. What gluttons, _he dryly thought, picking up one of the larger fruit, a wacan berry. It had grown heavy and swollen from absorbing the static energy in the hollow. He looked away from the two as he nibbled the soft yellow flesh, fearing he would lose his appetite if he watched the electric pokémon' mad feast. At least his mind wasn't on cross-breeding trees.

In a few minutes, Pace stopped halfway through the fruit. He dimly looked at the berry, realizing he still had four inches of the large berry left. The pachirisu had already finished about ten smaller berries between them, and that was without the nuts. He put the wacan berry away, deciding he was full. Besides, the sweet-sour flavor didn't appeal to him. He wiped his juice-stained paws on the grass and leaned back. The bizarre tree came back into view, preventing him from relaxing.

"Damn it," He muttered, sitting back up and closing his eyes. It still didn't make any sense. He woke up in a forest choked in malformed trees as a pokémon with no memories about his past life except his name and the fact that he was human. _First question: How? How could I get turned into a buizel? _He glanced at his arm._ Actually, a buizel with reddish orange fur. That's an odd color. Back to the question. How did I turn into a pokemon? …Either I've been messing around with questionable technology or some legendary is laughing at me right now._ He heaved a sigh, his eyes still closed. Not the most satisfying answers.

_Okay, next question: __Where are my memories? Is it a side effect of my transformation, or was the amnesia implemented by someone? If intentional, than who's responsible? Myself? Tch, that would be ironic. _He still wasn't getting any good answers. He continued to internally ask and answer questions like this for a while, the expression on his face falling further into a scowl as the unanswered questions piled up.

_Let's try this one: Where the hell am I? It's a forest, that's for sure, albeit a completely deformed one. What could possibly cause oak leaves to grow on the same branch as cherry blossoms? And the pokémon here, I've only met two examples, which both suggest typical territorial wilds. But why can I understand the pachirisu, but not the nuzleaf? There's no good reason …Is there civilization nearby? Maybe if I can find some humans, or perhaps tame pokémon, that'll give me a better idea of things._

He stood up. "Finally, a start," He mumbled._ I have to get out of this forest._ He briefly wondered why had the other two pachirisu had kept quiet. Glancing around, he realized that neither of them was in sight. _Perhaps they're restocking on food. They certainly eat them quickly enough, _he dully thought. _I might as well leave now. It's not as if they'll be missing me._

He started to walk away from the tree when some bushes rustled. He quickly turned to look at it, then relaxed when Radi and Luma ran out, carrying some small berries. Radi paused, looking curiously at him. Luma, meanwhile, seemed to be trying her best to ignore him as she dashed up the tree.

"What are you doing?" Radi asked, setting down the nuts he carried.

"Leaving," Pace replied gruffly.

"…Leaving?"

"Of course. You think I'm going to live here?" Pace growled.

"…Where will you go?" Radi asked after a pause.

_So much for not missing me._ "How should I know? Out of this forest. I just know that nothing's going to happen if I stick around here."

"We stay here, but something happened. Something bad," Luma said blankly, back on the ground. "You came."

Pace's eye twitched. He felt a growl rise in his throat, but her glare matched it evenly. _These two are just… Gugh, I hope I can find some normal pokémon soon._ "Look, I'm going, I don't even know why you don't want me to," he finally said to Radi, "And I don't care. Thanks for the food." With those elegant parting words, he turned around, walking away from the shade of the tree.

"Stop."

Pace ignored him.

"It is dangerous outside. Bad things happen," Radi continued.

Pace stopped in a patch of sunshine as he glanced back irritably. "Outside where? Besides, you're trying to tell me that this twisted place isn't bad?" He scoffed, picking up a branch that was covered in needles and an orchard bud. "Besides, you're just kids. You don't have much right telling me what to do."

"It is true!" Luma spoke up. "Outside is a bad place! Brother doesn't lie!"

Pace raised an eyebrow. "Your brother told you this."

She nodded. Pace glanced at Radi, this time with an analytical gaze. As the pachirisu looked back at him, he could notice a minute trembling about him. _He's getting nervous. All at the mention of "outside"…_

"You've been 'outside', haven't you?" Pace asked quietly. Radi flinched.

"No! Stupid! We lived here always!" Luma shouted back at him.

"Y- Yes…" The older pachirisu stammered.

"See?" Luma said, as if his words were scripture.

Pace looked at the two. "I don't know what happened, but I'm not spending another second with cowards like you, who are scared of what they don't know." He turned again and dropped the bizarre branch. He paused, then quickly snatched it up and swung behind him just in time to block Luma's attack. Her glowing teeth tore through the branch like paper as she hopped back, cheeks sparking.

"We are not cowards," She growled, blue sparks crackling around her cheeks.

Pace snarled back, still clutching the remaining wood in his paw. "If you want a fight…"

"Sister. Don't."

"What!? Brother! He insulted us!" Luma shouted back indignantly. Radi ignored her, watching Pace grimly.

"Just leave," He muttered, almost in a whisper.

"Tch. First, you get all clingy on me, now you tell me to go? Make up your mind," Pace grumbled, tossing the stick, and seemed to abruptly vanish. His tails flashed briefly in the sunlight before he walked into the shade of another tree. The two pachirisu kept watching long after his figure disappeared in the distance.

000

"Hey, what's that?"

"You see something, Hobbes?" The kirlia asked.

"It's not Hobbes, it's Obsidian," The jet-black sableye grumbled, shielding his large eyes from the sunlight. "There's some kind of signpost way over there. Right ahead of us."

"I'll check!" The shaymin said, quickly flying forward. In seconds, he was a speck in the distance, nearly invisible under the shadows of the trees. Just as quickly, the speck grew as he flew back.

"What did it say, Jaden?" The kirlia asked him.

"Good news! We're almost at Jigsaw!" He grinned. "Though it's on the other side of a mystery dungeon. It's pretty wide, so if we went around it, the trip would cost us another day."

"Absolutely not," The kirlia quickly said. "No way I'm spending another night on the road. This pack is killing me!"

"Stop whining, Valas," The larvitar growled. "I'm lugging about twice your whole weight over here. You don't get to complain."

"One, a majority of the mass you are carrying is composed of your own books," Valas countered, "and two, you decided to carry that much yourself. What I'm holding is my possessions alone."

"So you openly admit complete laziness?"

"No, there is too much of a difference in our physical-"

"So you're lazy."

"Listen, what I'm…"

"Lazybum."

"You shut your trap before I shut it for you!" Valas finally roared, turning towards the grinning larvitar.

"Valas! Please! Calm down for a bit!" The dratini pleaded, quickly sliding between the two. "And Clay! Please don't annoy him like that!" The larvitar kept grinning as Valas visibly struggled not to throttle him. "Look… um… We decided on- um- who carries what… because we… so…" She stopped there, as the two had completely ignored her.

"Give it up, Lynn. You can't stop them," Obsidian muttered, looking at the map he had unrolled. "Bah, this thing is way too outdated. Ancient. Turning to dust," he grumbled, shaking out a crinkle in the worn, but certainly not "ancient" material. "There's no mention of a junction or a mystery dungeon between these two towns. Not a smudge. Completely blank."

"Maybe we should buy a smaller scale one. One that covers the entire territory will probably leave out a lot of things."

"Well, we had one, but…" Obsidian paused. He quickly looked at Tadayo. The drifloon was still staring up at the clouds.

"Yeah, good idea, Tadayo!" Jaden smiled cheerfully, flipping upside-down to grin at him.

"…I don't get that guy," Obsidian muttered, shaking his head. "Loopy. Head in the clouds. Literally."

"Don't try," Clay told him, looking at the map over the sableye's shoulder. "He's just like that. He's smart, but only some of the time."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Besides, our leader is kind of loopy himself," Clay said before the sableye could throw another series of synonyms. The shaymin was currently doing midair barrel rolls.

"That, we can agree on," Valas mumbled, still glaring at Clay. "Let's just hurry up and get this over with."

"Okay then!" Jaden suddenly said, righting himself. "We'll cross that mystery dungeon on no time! Let's go!"

000

A sudden shriek caused Pace to sharply look up one of the trees. He held back a curse and rolled to the side as the staravia dove down at him. The outstretched talons missed him by a wide berth as it swooped back up and began to circle him. Pace, back on his feet, watched it warily. Quickly, he twisted around twice, swinging his tail in a wide arc both times. Two metallic shockwaves rippled through the air, but the staravia easily swerved through them. As they created two gashes in a tree behind it, the bird swooped down at him again, it's wings glowing. This time, Pace was prepared, and leapt clear over it, planting his feet into its head as it flew under him. The kick forced it straight into the ground as Pace landed smoothly behind it. Not giving it a chance to recover, he rushed at it, wrapped his arms around its neck, then started an aqua jet. The burst of water propelled him across the ground as he dragged the dazed staravia along. At the last second, he jumped away, shoving it face-first into a tree with a loud crack. Pace sighed, turning away from it.

Suddenly, another piercing shriek tore through his ears. "What the hell!?" He looked up to see another staravia and a staraptor perched in a tree, both looking very ticked. Pace glanced from the bird pokémon he had just defeated and the two others. "Shit, I just can't get a break, can I?" he muttered, eye twitching, and quickly began to run for his life. The two bird pokémon dove down to fly after him.

"This isn't looking good," He grumbled to himself. As fast as buizel were, these two birds were faster, and were easily catching up. _There's no way I can fight both of them, I need to get them off me…_ He looked around for anything that might help. Suddenly, there was another loud caw, and another large bird appeared in front of him.

"Oh, come on!" Pace roared, diving to the side as the swellow swept down at him, launching an aerial ace attack. Unfortunately, he was unable to avoid the speeding blue flash, which scored a long scratch on his leg. Pace grunted as he rolled away, wincing when he put his weight on the injured limb.

The swellow, unable to stop, had collided with the two birds that had been chasing Pace. He would've gladly watched the following argument and brawl, but he had more important concerns. Besides, the fight wouldn't last long; as Pace knew, aerial battles never did. Growling lowly, he crawled away from the explosion of feathers, hoping to find something to heal the wound.

It wasn't long before Pace had moved out of hearing range of the battle. He sighed, leaning against a thick tree. Looking at the scratch, he saw that it was long, extending all the way across the side of the leg, but not deep. Though, he couldn't call it shallow. He winced slightly, looking away from the trail of blood. His eyes scanned the forest for an oran berry or the like. Because of the bizarre nature of the foliage, he couldn't identify the tree by leaves. Eventually, he found a clump on a bush a good distance away. _On a bush. This place is really screwed up._

He started to stand up, then remembered why he was looking for oran berries in the first place. He winced, anticipating a bolt of pain to rip through his leg. None did. Blinking, he looked back at the gash. "This... this is..." He stuttered. _What the hell? Even pokémon don't heal that quickly._ In three minutes, the gash had been reduced to no more than a thick line visible through his bloodstained fur. He stared at it, and shook his head, walking towards the oran berries. Even if the wound didn't need them, they would provide stamina anyways. "Just what the hell is this place?"

000

**Edited 10-21-09**

Made several edits here, most of them pretty minor. One of note is the changes made in Joutei's scene, establishing some more concrete traits in each of the characters, Obsidian and Clay most noticeably. Kaysta has been redubbed Lynn. Rolls of the tongue much more smoothly, don't you think? Also, Pace's fight has been slightly extended.


	3. 1:3 An Unexpected Turn of Events

Holy **** *** on a sandwich with ****** on top, and a side of ***** ***!! Six reviews for one chapter o_O

**ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous:** Awesome penname :D *Ding!* OC accepted. Thx for the review!

**Insan:** *Ding!* OC accepted. No, no, Phoenix Wright is a lawyer, not a verb. ;) Thx for the review!

**ShadowDragoon32:** lol, yeah, *Ding!*, and np

**DelinquentDuo:** …That's not how I would describe him… Thx for the review!

**Skroy Horitz** and **the book master: **… Nothing to say in reply, really…

I really cut my responses short this time around, didn't I?

**So I heard you like mudkips, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't own Pokémon.**

* * *

Pace grumpily tore another mouthful off the long, red spiked fruit he held as he walked through the woods_. When I ate that wacan berry, that was only half an hour ago, wasn't it? How the hell did I get so hungry again?_ He thought as he chewed the spelon berry. _At least it tastes better than the wacan did…_ He popped the rest of the fruit in his mouth, letting the spicy flavor ravage his mouth. As weird as it sounded, he enjoyed having that burning sensation on his tongue. He glanced up after swallowing, then blinked.

"Okay, this is getting insane now," Pace grumbled, looking at the staircase sitting in the middle of the malformed trees. It was a good three feet wide and it extended well into the upper canopy of the forest. The base extended for about six feet, but after that, the stairs went on with absolutely no support. "Freak trees, freak healing, freak hunger, and now, freak staircases in the middle of nowhere," he growled under his breath. "Honestly, what the hell is with this place?"

He approached the stairs, stepping into a puddle of thick mud. He snarled as he jumped out and peered closely at the grey stone. He turned his gaze upwards. The stairs continued into the layer of leaves, the end completely obscured. Looking back at the trees, Pace saw that the staircase, assuming it went on straight, wouldn't meet any of them. The possibility of someone building the stairs to get to the top of a tree was ruled out, though it was crazy to begin with. Then again, the entire staircase was crazy to begin with. "Gagh! What am I even doing?! I've got better things to do than mess around with- this- thing!" He said loudly, as if trying to bring himself to his senses. He stormed off away from the staircase, muttering quiet curses. There was silence again for the staircase as a light breeze stirred a few leaves, dappling it with sunlight.

000

Pace's eye twitched.

"Damn it… I've been going… in a straight line… So what gives?" The staircase was right there, in front of him. _It's a different one. It's got to be a different one,_ he told himself. There was the footprint of a buizel in a dried patch of mud. His footprint. His eye kept twitching.

…

"Nothing for it, then," Pace sighed as he walked to the base of the stairs. "…Why the hell am I even doing this?" he grumbled, taking a step on the smooth surface. After a few seconds, he put his other foot on the step above. The staircase didn't react at all to his weight. He continued to walk up, the leaves of the trees getting closer. Soon, he was in the middle of them. There were so many of the leaves that Pace was starting to have trouble shoving past them all. _Damn it!_ He thought as a twig nearly whipped his eye. _The canopy didn't look this thick from the ground!_

Suddenly, they were gone. Pace stumbled from the sudden loss of pressure. He whipped his head around, to see that the staircase was behind him, now leading into the ground. He was in the middle of the forest, in a clearing. By all purposes, the forest was exactly the same as the one he had just left.

"Just what the hell is with this place?" Pace grumbled, looking at where the stair case disapperaed into the earth. The trees rustled slightly in the breeze. Before he could ponder what just happened, a wet, sticky mass attached itself to his back. "What the… Waugh!" He was quickly jerked off his feet and dragged towards a set of bushes by the webbing.

"Damn it! Let go of me!" he roared, twisting around, grabbing the non-sticky part of the thread and digging his feet into the ground. He slid for two meters before he and the webbing reached a stalemate. With a growl, he flicked the silken string, stumbling forward slightly as he did so. But to his satisfaction, his assailant was tugged out of the shrubs.

"Shoot!" the ariados cried around the mouthful of string that was still attached to Pace. The buizel jumped slightly at the presence of another talker, but he quickly recovered, letting go of the thread and jumping towards his foe. The bug pokémon quickly bit through the string and leapt to the side, avoiding his attack. As soon as Pace landed, he summoned more of the dark energy and lunged forward for a pursuit attack, still trailing the length of silk. The ariados responded with a spray of purple needles from its mouth.

"Damn it!" Pace muttered, releasing the dark aura and twisting away from the poison sting.

"Fast, aren't you?" the ariados said as Pace rolled to his feet. "Well how about this, aye!?" He, as Pace identified, lunged for the end of the webbing still attached to the buizel.

"Oh, no way in hell!" Pace growled, grabbing the thread at his end and tugging it away from the spider pokémon. As it was jerked away, the ariados missed it completely, crashing to the ground. He quickly stood up and spat out a mouthful of dirt as Pace rolled up the thread around the sticky wad still attached to his back, to prevent any more such problems.

"Come on, kid! Hold still!" he shouted, twisting around and facing his rear spinners towards the buizel, who simply moved his head to avoid the thick shot of silk. Pace growled as he lunged forward again, this time creating a burst of water behind him. Suddenly, a beam of freezing pale blue light shot through his shoulder, interrupting the aqua jet.

"Another!?" he shouted as he rolled away, grabbing at his numbed shoulder where shards of ice had formed.

"Nyra! What do you think you're doing!? This is my fight!" the ariados roared into the bushes.

"Oh, please, Kraid," a glaceon sighed, walking out of the shrubs. "All you had to do was reel that brat in, but nooo, you let him pull you into a battle! Disgraceful!" she humphed. A flash. She stared wide-eyed as a scyther sliced through the sonic boom Pace had sent straight at her. The scyther was covered in thin yellow lines that ran across his exoskeleton symmetrically, two of which intersected between his eyes.

"Damn it," Pace cursed under his breath, then spat a mouthful of water at the ice to help it melt.

The scyther, stood in his pose for a second, then smacked both Nyra and Kraid with the backside of his blades. "You're both fools!" he growled. "You have both have severely underestimated your foe," he chided as the glaceon rubbed her head.

"Who the hell do you think you guys are, attacking me like that!?" Pace shouted out, catching their attention.

"Well, you silly boy," Nyra giggled, apparently having recovered from the smack, "we're kidnappers! When you came along by your lonesome self, we couldn't help but to pick such an easy target to…"

"There wasn't a single word you said that didn't make me want to rip off your tail and gag you with it," Pace growled, interrupting her. _Kidnappers?! Damn it, just my luck,_ He thought. _I don't see a trainer nearby. Are these guys…?_

"Ugh! So uncouth!" the glaceon harrumphed, turning her head away.

"Talking to a lady like that? Where are your manners?" the scyther said to him, crossing his arms.

"Said the kidnapper."

"Touché."

"As for kidnapping me, you won't get anything out of it because I don't really know anyone who'd pay for my release," he said before any of the others could respond. _That's the truth, I suppose._

"Ah, is that so?" the scyther asked. "Pity. Move along then, stop wasting our time," he said dismissively, turning around.

"Now wait a damn minute! You're just going to just let me go!? I could be lying to you, you dumbasses!"

"It's believable that you have no friends, aye?" Kraid shrugged. Pace ignored the comment.

"Are you guys seriously kidnappers?"

"Well, just outlaws in general, but yes," The scyther shrugged.

Pace blinked at him disbelievingly.

"Hold on a minute."

"Damn it, you guys. How many of you are there?" Pace growled, turning towards the newest voice. A gliscor hung from a tree, half-covered in shadows.

"Whether or not he is lying, which I firmly believe he is, it would be unfortunate if he were to be allowed to inform authorities of our presence, would it not?" The gliscor's eyes gleamed. _Wait, how could I inform the authorities? I'm a pokémon!_

"Bah, we've were about to leave the area anyways," The scyther replied, unconcernedly. "Even if he does, we'll be long gone before anything can be done. Let's move."

"Aye," The ariados sighed. "Kid, our battle's not done. We'll meet again," He told Pace. "And…"

"Humph! I hope we don't!" Nyra said, turning her head away again.

"And you still have some of the web on your back," Kraid finished after the interruption.

"Some?" Pace grumbled lowly, picking up a stick to prod the large, wet mass off. _A massive understatement… Looks like the scyther's their leader. Some kidnappers. Just who the hell are these guys, really?_ He glanced around the clearing, and blinked when he realized the staircase was no longer around.

"Tch," The gliscor spat. He suddenly threw himself at Pace, his claw radiating dark energy.

"What the…" The buizel barely avoided getting beheaded by the night slash. "Damn it! That could've killed me!" he roared as the top of his stick fell clean off. The gliscor swooped up and circled around him.

"Cancer!" the scyther called in a warning tone.

"What would you do if I killed this boy?" the gliscor asked quietly.

"Kill me?" Pace echoed. "Like hell I'll let you!" he shouted, dropping the severed stick and settling into a ready stance.

"What is this?" the scyther muttered under his breath.

"Answer, Cross!"

Cross glared back at him silently. "So you would?" he finally asked.

"Pah, I had enough of your softness," Cancer growled back. "For example, the delcatty. If you had listened to me and killed one, the other would've never had the confidence to escape."

"Bastard," Pace grumbled.

"With that spinda, you wouldn't allow me to get rid of the witness you so carelessly allowed to hear us. We were found out and had escape without collecting ransom."

"Cancer! Just listen to yourself!" Kraid shouted at him.

"How many times have you avoided killing!? Even against the Watchers, you would never make a finishing blow! Even preventing me from killing off those pests!"

"You despicable…" Nyra growled. "I always knew you were mad..."

"Now, you're simply allowing this capture to walk away!"

"At least I have _some_ sense of honor, unlike you," Cross told him.

"Honor?" he chuckled darkly. "What use is honor, in a time and age like this?"

"..." Cross continued to glare at him.

"You're pathetic! You're all pathetic!" the gliscor roared. "Countless times since I joined you, you showed weakness! On this side of the law, weakness is not something you can afford!" he shouted, almost maniacally. "I have been planning this for a week! This is the perfect opportunity to introduce you to the harsh reality!!" he roared, diving straight at Pace before any of them could react. His claws began to shine as he swung them in the shape of an x. Pace deftly ducked under the claws, but Cancer quickly twisted back, swiping at him again. The buizel jumped over the claw, but the other claw caught him in midair. Cancer grinned, immediately following up with a diagonal slash in the other direction.

"No!" they all cried as blood splattered across the forest floor. "Cancer! You…" Nyma gasped, watching Pace fall roughly on his back.

"Damn it," the buizel gasped, gritting his teeth as blood flowed freely from the two gashes in his chest. He tried to sit up, but the wad of silk attached him firmly to the dirt.

"Congratulations. You managed to avoid a fatal blow," Cancer said quietly, flapping his wings to hover in place. His claw shone a pure white color. "But not this one." He dove again.

"No!" Cross shouted, running to defend Pace. He wasn't going to make it. _I haven't been in this body for two hours and I'm about to die. How pointless, _Pace groaned mentally.

Suddenly, a barrage of stars came out of nowhere and slammed into the gliscor. The attack only caused Cancer's claw to miss Pace's skull. The buizel's eyes widened as they sunk deep into the soil besides his head. "What?" All five of them looked up into the trees.

"Radi! Luma! What the hell are you doing here!?" Pace called hoarsely.

"Shut up, stupid!" Luma shouted at him, looking very pissed. Radi seemed to be a bit more focused.

"Sister," he said lowly. She nodded. They both vanished, then immediately reappeared, slamming into Cancer. He growled lowly, barely flinching, and pounded both of them away with his claw, pulling the other one out of the dirt.

"Oh, no you don't!" Cross roared, swinging at him with his bladed arms. Cancer countered with his menacing pincers.

"Damn it! Be careful up there!" Pace shouted from under them, still trying to pull himself off the webbing on his back.

Nyra, from further away, started to gather an orb of blue light in front of her mouth. "No! You could hit any of them!" Kraid told her. She immediately cancelled the ice beam with a growl.

"What can I do then?" she muttered. Kraid didn't answer, instead, dashing towards Cancer's backside, gathering a black aura around his body. He thrust a single leg at him, but the gliscor, seeing the sucker punch coming, knocked Cross away and quickly jabbed his tail straight out behind him. The poison jab smashed into the arachnid's head, knocking him away. Cross took the chance to lash a blade across Cancer's face.

"You're fired," he growled as Cancer reared back. The gliscor glared at him with his right eye, as his left had been scratched, leaking a few drops of blood. With a roar, he lunged forward, right past Cross, towards the two pachirisu. "No!" The gliscor raised a glowing white claw above them. The scyther quickly leapt to their defense, blocking the guillotine with his blades, though the move slammed his arms and the rest of his body into the earth. To add insult to injury, the save was completely unnecessary, as the pachirisu had already jumped clear of the attack.

Grinning, Cancer turned back to Pace. The buizel was still stuck, and though his injury had healed somewhat, he was clearly suffering from the blood loss. "Die!" He thrust an open claw towards him again.

"No! Cancer! Stop it!" Nyma cried. Cross started to stand up, but it was far too late to do anything. For Pace, the world froze. The gliscor's shining pincer slowed almost to a stop as he watched it. He heard his heartbeat slow down in his ears. _This feeling…_ he thought dully. _I've seen death before…_ The blue sky wavered._ I've experienced death before…_ The guillotine attack came closer _…But how?_

The claw never reached him.

"You…" Cancer growled.

"You idiot…" Pace said in a whisper.

Luma stared, mouth gaping, as Radi glared defiantly back at Cancer. The defiance faded as the life was drained from his body. The gliscor removed his claw, allowing Radi to fall back, on top of Pace.

"Brother!!"

* * *

Cliffhanger.

Whoa, bet none of you saw that crap coming. I'm still mentally smacking myself for pulling the kidnappers right out of the blue. These guys had been planned for a while, but the only way to get the results I wanted was to plop them in here.

Review!

**Edited 8-3-09**

Nyma is now Nyra. Minor edits. Move along, nothing to see here.


	4. 1:4 Eye for Eye

This fic is raking in the reviews way too quickly for me to comprehend. Am I that good of a writer? Or is it just the hype from the old version?

Concerning Radi's untimely death, yeah, a lot of you guys probably saw that coming if you've read the original. He'll hold a special place in our hearts. Okay, maybe not that special. Sorry I had to kill the poor guy off so early, but it was an inevitable thing, see.

**Skroy Horitz: **Indeed. But how would I go about making an elegant badass? Not quite, but it's a mystery that will hang around for a while. Dunno how many parts. I'm aiming for at least 20. Yes, ambitious.

**ShadowDragoon32:** Yeah, they're kind of off for kidnappers, but that's just how they roll. Thank yew!

**ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous:** …Really? I was feeling kind of iffy when I gave him that name. To clear things up for anybody who doesn't realize, Cancer's named after the Greek zodiac, not the terminal disease.

**the book master: **Meh, sort of. I'll give you points. 23 books a month? Damn, I thought I used to be the avid reader in elementary!

**DelinquentDuo:** Apparently, you didn't get the reference. Random… as in out-of-the-blue random?

**Insan**: Not much to say, thanks for the review! You too, all of you!

**I do not own Pokémon. If I did, the anime would have something that at least resembles an actual plot.**

* * *

"_Radi! Take Luma and run!"_

"_But-But Mom!"_

"_Just take her to the forest and wait there!"_

"_But you told me…"_

"_Forget what I told you! Just go! We'll find you later!"_

_Radi slowly nodded, gripping the baby pachirisu tightly against his own body as he fled the scene._

000

"You damn idiot," Pace growled. "What do you take your life for, throwing it away for someone you don't even know?" he muttered to Radi, who was inhaling his last few breaths. The blood spilling from the horrible gashes in his sides mixed with Pace's dried blood.

"No!! Brother!" Luma cried again, rushing over to him. "You're hurt! Wait here, I'll get a berry!" She muttered to herself as she started to dash away, obviously trying to convince herself the wound wasn't that bad.

"Sister…" Radi murmured weakly, leaning against Pace. His body was being sustained by the speeded healing, as his body rapidly tried to repair the damage as Pace's had.

"Dumbass," Pace spat. "Fruit isn't going to save him." The wounds were too serious. Radi's death would only be prolonged by any healing.

Cancer chuckled as Luma stopped in her tracks. "Well, that wasn't entirely the plan, but it worked," he smiled darkly. His left eye had already recovered from the scratch, leaving only faint marks around it. "So Cross, what will you do, now that I've taken a life?" He asked, turning to the scyther.

Cross glared back at him, a growl rising in his throat.

"Cancer… you…" Nyra gasped, her face flickering between shock and fury. Kraid was silent, slowing looking between Radi and the gliscor.

"Pah, you lot can't even respond," Cancer spat. "You truly are pathetic. Perhaps another one will push you…" An ear-splitting noise interrupted him. "What…?"

Luma was covered by a storm of surging sparks. Lines of blue electricity crackled as they danced around her small frame.

Pace stared at the flashing sparks. "What…?" he groaned out as all of the others watched. Even Radi, half-alive as he was, was bewildered by the sight. Barely visible, Luma turned to face the gliscor. The streaks of lighting suddenly converged, cloaking her entirely in a layer of blue light.

"What is this?" Cancer mumbled. The light around her tail suddenly bulged. The electricity formed three massive spikes, above where the natural spikes would've been. With a roar of fury, Luma jumped at him, faster than any of them would've believed was possible. The three thorns, constantly twitching and shifting in size, easily sunk through the gliscor's right wing. No one responded, only staring. Cancer gasped faintly as the spear-like spines moved, tearing through the leathery material of his wing with an audible rip. The points dripped blood as they continued to flood the area with the crackling noise.

_That's- That's crazy!_ Pace thought as he watched Luma swing the thorns again. _That's no iron tail, is it!? How can she hold a move that powerful for that long?!_ They met Cancer's claws with a loud clank, which he brought up sluggishly, still in shock. One suddenly extended, scratching his neck. As he flinched, the other two broke through the guard as Luma shoved them straight towards his torso.

Before they hit him, Cross, in one complex maneuver, knocked Cancer away and brought his own blades down in an x, trapping the spikes by the base. Luma growled loudly at him, the points clanking loudly as they bristled against each other.

"Cross… what…?" the gliscor gasped.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Pace shouted.

With a grunt, the scyther shifted his feet for a more solid grip on the ground. "If I let you die," he finally said to Cancer, "If I let this child take a life, I'd be no better off than you."

The gliscor stared up at him wordlessly. Pace, meanwhile, spat. "So that's what you believe," He muttered. "You really are soft."

Cross looked up in surprise. In that moment, one of the spines retracted, only to reappear above his blades. The point slashed through his exoskeleton, scoring a gash right under his left arm. He jumped back as Luma forgot her previous target and leapt forward, all three spikes bristling randomly.

"No!" Both Kraid and Nyra shouted.

"Damn it," Pace growled, lightly pulling Radi off himself. The pachirisu barely noticed, watching the monster his sister had become. "Kraid! Get this webbing off my back!" He was still pinned down because of the silk.

"But…"

"Now!!" Pace roared at him.

"Aye!" At the harsh tone, Kraid immediately dashed forward. Pace leaned over, giving him a clear shot at the webbing, which the spider pokémon cut through in three bites of his fangs.

Meanwhile, Cross was parrying all the spikes with mad speed, though he was losing ground. Luma, still engulfed in the blue electricity, crawled forwards slowly as the thorns on her tail individually stabbed at the scyther. He shrugged off two stabs to the side with his right blade and was forced bring up his left to block another, wincing as he did so. Blood leaked from the gash in his armor, weakening his left arm. _This isn't good. She's too unpredictable; there's no pattern whatsoever in her attack. I won't be able to keep this up._ He brought up the left blade and stepped sideways, sliding away from another flurry of jabs._ At this rate, I may be forced to...  
_

"Damn it, you, get a hold of yourself!" While Cross kept the spikes busy, Pace dashed in, forming a spinning orb of water between his paws. "Brine!" He shouted, tossing the sphere at Luma. It hit her like boulder, splashing over her as the weight threw her across the clearing. The layer of electricity split erratically, becoming branching arcs of electricity again.

"That was... close," Cross sighed. He glanced worriedly at Pace. "You shouldn't be fighting with those injuries." Luma had recovered and stood up, leering at them without any trace of recognition.

"Shut up," Pace growled, leaning over. The wound had started bleeding again. "I'm not going to stand back and let that brat kill everyone." The berserk pachirisu interrupted them, firing a massive bolt of electricity at the two. Finally, Nyra made herself useful.

"Mirror Coat!" She leapt in front of it, wincing as the surge slammed into the shimmering layer that coated her body. It let off a brilliant glow as it reflected the massive amount of electricity, spreding it everywhere but behind her. Unfortunately, the shield didn't hold. The mirror coat shattered in a blinding flash, leaving the chain of lightning free to electrocute her. She fell to the floor, screaming out and writhing in pain as the sparks kept coming

"Damn it!" Pace roared, forming another sphere of briny water. He hurled it at Luma again, but this time, she noticed and dodged. The electricity was cut off from the glaceon,

"Stop! You…!" Cross shouted.

"Shut the hell up! I already told you!" Pace roared, taking another deliberate step as all of the lightning converged on him. "My body… Gaagh!!" He stopped as the electricity found a hole in the mud, the x-shaped wound.

Pace's body jerked in spasms as the energy forced itself into his body, activating every nerve in his body. His muscles were overloaded with commands, and white-hot pain seared every inch of his skin. The gashes in his chest burned the most fiercely, drowning out any remnants of thoughts he may have had. He couldn't tell if he was standing or squirming on the ground. All there was was the endless pain…

"Sister!!"

As suddenly as it appeared, the storm of electricity disappeared at once, letting Pace crumple to the ground, twitching. Luma fell to the floor gasping, then she looked at Radi. His death had been delayed this far, but his end was approaching.

"Sister…"

She quickly dashed to his side, ignoring her body's exhausted protests. Cross sighed. After a glance around and a quick priority check, he barked out orders. "Kraid! Get medical supplies for the buizel!"

"Aye!" The ariados scurried into the woods.

"Nyra," he said to the glaceon, who had recovered from the shock she received, "Take care of the traitor," he growled.

Nyra nodded and walked towards Cancer, who had been leaning on a tree after his wing was torn. He couldn't go anywhere fast on his short legs.

"What?! Get away from me!" he spat as she approached.

Nyra's eyes glowed. "Sheer Cold."

Meanwhile, Luma knelt by Radi. "Brother… why?" she asked.

He was silent. He finally gathered enough breath for his last words. "Follow… him…"

"Why? Why!? I don't understand!!" she cried.

He didn't respond, but only closed his eyes.

"…Brother… Wake up…" she murmured, her voice giving up on hope even when her mouth didn't. A solid thump on the back of her head. Her vision faded as she crumpled over.

Cross heaved another sigh. "Cross! I got them!" Kraid shouted, dragging several bags out of the undergrowth.

"Don't tell me! Apply them!"

"Aye!" The ariados quickly pulled a roll of bandages from one bag and started to unroll it.

"Kraid! Wait!" Nyra shouted. "His body's still covered in static. I have to take care of that first."

Kraid stopped, and nodded. Nyra approached Pace, her body covered in the shimmering layer again. She placed a paw on his back, and at once, great bolts of electricity lanced into her. For a second, the layer absorbed them all, then her body suddenly erupted in a crackle of blue lightning as the mirror coat reflected them away in random directions. Pace's body jerked under her paw as surge kept going, but it quickly receded.

Nyra let out a sigh, letting the mirror coat dissapiate. Quickly, he turned his body so he was laying on his back, his wounded chest facing upward. "The wound seems to have been completely cauterized by the electric shock," she muttered as Kraid rushed by, dragging the medical supplies. "I can't be certain, but his chances for survival are minimal, considering he took on enough energy to break my mirror coat."

"He'll survive."

"What? Cross, we can't be sure of that!" Nyra shouted at him.

"I'm sure," the scyther said simply. "He doesn't occur to me as the type who would die easily."

She blinked at him bemusedly. "Nyra! Focus!" Kraid said, roughly shaking her.

"R-Right! First, we have to clean the wound off..."

Cross sighed, reaching into a bag and skewering an oran berry with his blade. He ripped the azure peel off with his mouth as the two others worked on healing Pace.

000

Pace slowly came to consciousness. He blinked blearily. He winced, remembering what had happened moments before he passed out.

"You're awake."

Pace glanced up at the voice. His neck moaned in pain as he did so.

"A direct x-scissor in the chest, and run through by thousands of volts, which pretty much cauterized the gashes. There was a good chance that you wouldn't survive," Cross told him, his figure illuminated by flickering firelight. Pace's weak body confirmed his words. "We did all we could, but bandages and berries can only get you so far. Your body is still suffering from internal burns, so you'll need to get to the city soon." Each of the stripes over his body gleamed in the glow of the campfire.

Pace didn't respond for a while. "Where's Luma?"

Cross blinked at him. "Oh, the pachirisu. She's on the other side of the fire."

Pace sat up, ignoring his body's groans, and glanced around. Nyra and Kraid were sleeping near the blazing fire. Luma, looking well and healthy, was curled up tightly near the glaceon. Pace watched their chests fall and rise before looking up. A pine tree. A perfectly normal pine tree. All needles, no broad leaves or daisies hanging out. Normally, he would've been so glad that he could've sent a silent prayer of thanks to Palkia or whomever, but he was feeling too shitty for anything.

"We're out of the mystery dungeon," Cross said, following his gaze.

"The what?"

"The mystery dungeon."

"Yes. What's a mystery dungeon?"

Cross stared at him. "Did you lose a few brain cells when you got zapped!?" he blurted out before biting his tongue.

Pace growled back. "I had amnesia," he explained. "I woke up today with no idea who I am or where I was." _Except that I was human. But I can't just say that without sounding insane._

The scyther was silent. "Mystery dungeons," he finally said, "are anomalies in the fabric of space and time. Space folds over upon itself to create endless, ever-shifting mazes which defy the very laws of reality. Time uncoils, speeding up your body's natural process, such as healing and metabolism. We only have theories on how they're created and how it's possible for them to exist."

_Okay, that explains a lot._ Pace thought to himself. _Except, I'm pretty sure mystery dungeons didn't exist when I was a human._ He glanced down at his chest. It was completely swathed in white bandages. He traced a forepaw across it, feeling the rough scar underneath. Pace blinked, then sighed. "Luma's still hanging around?"

"We knocked her out."

"Ah. And she's still out?"

"We've been feeding her a sleeping drug," Cross explained. "We weren't sure what she would do if she woke up."

_Sleeping drug? Oh yeah, these guys are kidnappers…_ "So…"

"We buried the other pachirisu in the mystery dungeon."

"…" The fire crackled loudly.

"Cancer, Nyra dragged him to the city. They'll recognize his wanted poster and jail him."

"But not Nyra?"

"She has her means of avoiding detection."

"…A jail," Pace spat, glaring at the scyther. "Why didn't you let Luma kill him?"

Cross glanced sharply at him. "You believe I should have?"

"Yes." The answer was flat and immediate. Pace lay back on the ground, shutting his eyes.

"Your sense of justice is harsh, isn't it?"

"Harsh?" A snort. "This is a murderer we're talking about."

"And you think he should've been killed for that?"

"I would kill him myself if he was here." Pace said, opening his eyes just enough to glare at the scyther. His tone was dead serious. "A bastard is a bastard, no matter how many years you lock him in a box. Just get rid of them, I say. Immediately. Permanently."

"…You were ready to kill him yourself." Cross's face took on a grim expression. "Have you no respect for life?"

_I've experienced death before…_

Pace's paws visibly twitched underneath his head. "Respect for life?" he snarled, sitting up and shooting him a dark glare. "You're trying to tell me about respect for life?"

Cross met his glare evenly. "…I saw death one time."

Pace's glare wavered. "You did…?"

"Not head on, like you did back there. No, it was more like, as a bystander." The scyther continued, looking into the fire. "I was watching from the sidelines when I got a glimpse of it. In fact, it was already almost gone by the time I saw it. But even so, that one glimpse…" He trailed off, his eyes focused not on the blazing fire in front of him, but on the past. "I decided that, no one deserved it. No one deserved that terror, that awful emptiness, that void that was death…" He turned to Pace. "You've seen it straight in the face. And yet, you can still wish it on others?"

Pace looked back at him before lying on his back, shutting his eyes again. "It's not as if anyone would miss him."

"…So you have made up your mind." Cross's expression was unreadable.

…

"If you could drag that bastard to jail, why not me to a pokécenter?"

Cross looked blankly at him.

"…A hospital."

He understood that. "I wanted to make sure you understood what you meant by wishing death on Cancer."

"You risked my life to ask what I felt about murderers?"

"Just because you could've died doesn't mean you would've died. Somehow, I knew you would survive."

Pace blinked. "Um…"

…

"…If the mystery dungeon speeds my healing, couldn't you have kept me there?"

"Well… How should I put this?" Cross mumbled. "If stay within a mystery dungeon for too long, it will simply expel you."

"Expel…?"

"It just shoves you out the way you came in," he answered.

Pace blinked. "That sounds… I don't know. Why would that happen?"

"There are theories, but the most common one is that as you traverse the chaos of the dungeons, they eventually find your stability … repulsive."

"What"

"As I said, it's the most orthodox theory. Not that I get it, but… I haven't heard anything better." Cross shrugged sheepishly.

"…Hold on… Luma and Radi- they've told me they lived their entire lives in that mystery dungeon," Pace mumbled, now understanding Radi's words from earlier. "And there's those wild pokémon too…"

"Well, you see, mystery dungeons will only expel those who know what they're doing. As I said, the mystery dungeons will eject your stability, and you with it. If you're lost and confused, the chaos will embrace it, keeping you in. As for the Wilds, they exist as part of the mystery dungeon. They're simply mindless brutes, who know nothing but to fight and destroy."

"...Then I wouldn't have been expelled."

"But we would've," he answered. "And we had to be around to make sure Wilds didn't get to you."

"The more I hear about these mystery dungeons, the less sense they make," Pace grumbled, rubbing his head. He glanced at Luma. "Speaking of no sense… What the hell was that freak show anyways? I've never seen anything like that," Pace muttered.

"Naturally, didn't you have amnesia?"

_Urk. He's right. How could I be sure of that?_

"I'm not quite sure what the pachirisu did there myself," Cross continued nevertheless. "However, there are hundreds of such mysteries in the world…" Cross shook his head. "It's not important …Anyways, that pachirisu, Luma, came to protect you. You have the best chance of keeping her under control when she wakes up."

"And when will that be?"

"Tomorrow morning. We'll be leaving you on your own, I'm afraid. I no longer have any obligation to help you."

The fire continued to crackle steadily.

"…Good night."

* * *

Okay, I was mistaken. That flashback didn't answer anything. Next chapter should give more explanation about the pachirisu siblings' behavior. I mean it. So, **DelinquentDuo**, still think Pace is a cool, cool guy? :P I got this up pretty quickly, haven't I. Sorry, but it's past midnight here, so I'll add comments when I'm not half-asleep.

Okay, now that I've gotten five hours of sleep (gawd) and got back from school, I still don't have that many comments. The fight scene took a bit longer to finish than I anticipated, so the scene I had planned, which would've looked at things from Luma's PoV, got pushed to next chapter.

Review!

**Edited 10-17-09**

Minor changes up until the second scene. I've pretty much redone that one entirely, so go and reread it if you haven't.


	5. 1:5 Watchers

…Madness… Only four chapters and it has more reviews than the last one.

**the book master:** Sure… Just one thing. They're on the other side of the mystery dungeon.

**kirby163:** Jeanne already submitted a delibird. Sorry.

Mr. Anonymous: I said no cliché species.

**Jeanne Reveur:** Good luck locking forward. I forgive you for not reviewing the last few chapters until now ;D Lol. Thanks for the reviews!

**Skroy Horitz:** Fred who? Tsk, you had it coming. Thank you for the inspiring the new chapter title, much better than the old one. Well, me too. That's why I'm writing it. Where does ToV come into this? Twice…

**ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous: **Hold it! Didn't you see what happened to Skroy Horitz!?

**ShadowDragoon32:** Aye, they seem like that, don't they? It will make it bit more sense as I reveal more of the world.

**DelinquentDuo:** Him? Lol, that's not quite who I was aiming for, but you're kind of right, actually. None of those. Have fun trying to figure it out like that.

I encourage you all to read each other's reviews. The above won't make sense otherwise, it keeps you guys from submitting similar OCs, and it wastes more of your time than I already have.

***Gets randomly shot at by a horde of dudes in shades with automatics, and does a Matrix thing to stop the bullets in mid-air, spelling "I do not claim ownership of the Pokémon franchise" with them.***

* * *

"Good morning!" A small hedgehog-like creature with grass rather than spikes shouted. "It's a new day! It's time for another brand-new journey! Today, we…"

Obsidian threw a gray pillow that at one point, might've been white at him. "Enough. We get the point," He growled groggily, only the bottom halves of his eyes lit. Valas snored loudly from his bunk. The sableye looked at him in annoyance.

"Hobbes! Why did you do that?!?" Jaden whined, getting up.

"Quiet and help me think of a way to wake this guy up that doesn't involve more shouting. And it's not Hobbes, it's Obsidian. Yeesh."

Lynn's head descended from the bunk above the kirlia's. "Hey, Valas, time to get up," She said in a more restrained cheer. He rolled over with an odd snork sound. "…Hey," Her tail slid down, shaking him. "Wake up. Valas…"

"Hey. Lynn. If you're not careful, you're going to fall off," Obsidian pointed out.

"Hm?" Her midsection slipped off the padded bunk. The floor shook as she hit the wooden planking hard. "Eep!" Her cry was only barely audible over the creak the floorboards made.

Valas shifted in his sleep. If Obsidian had eyelids, they would be twitching. Instead, the edge of the light flickered. "You know what? I…" He didn't get to finish as Clay splashed water all over the kirlia.

"COLD!! OW!! GACK! Okay, I'm up! I'm up!" Valas shouted as he jumped about two feet, hit the top bunk, fell back into the water, rolled off that bunk, and fell on top of Lynn.

"Eep! Clay, you didn't have to do that!" The dratini shouted from under him. Even after being squashed, she still sounded more concerned about Valas than herself.

"Um. That was… excessive," Obsidian muttered at a loss for words.

"What I want to know is how he got a bucket of ice water. I never saw him leave the room," Jaden said, looking at Clay.

The larvitar only smirked as he towed the empty bucket out the door of the small room. Valas grumbled and after getting off Lynn, began to shake his head, trying to clear his hair of the freezing water. "Nutty little…"

"The sunrise sure is pretty…"

Obsidian glanced at the drifloon, floating in front of the window.

"Hey! Let me see!" Jaden said, hoping from his bunk to a small, battered table in front of the window, where a flower vase containing a lone, leafy pink flower rested. "Wah, you're right, Tadayo…!"

"You both say that all the time," Obsidian grumbled. Though Tadayo was usually correct whenever he said such things anyways. The rays of the morning sun bathed the room in a golden light that almost made up for the dilapidated state of the small room.

Jaden ignored him, and instead, sniffed the Gracidea flower. His body began to glow with a soft yellow light and shifted in shape and size. In a few seconds, the glow faded. A slightly larger, more determined Jaden looked back at the occupants of the room.

"All right, then," He said as Valas stopped wringing his hair and Clay stepped back in the room, now bucketless. "What kind of adventure shall we have today?"

000

Pace's mouth curled into a slight snarl as a shadow appeared over him, blocking the morning light. He opened his eyes to look at whoever it was.

"So you're awake now?" He asked Luma.

She glared silently back. Her gaze traveled to the bandages wrapped around his torso, through which the rough scar could be seen in the soft sunlight.

Pace sighed and turned his eyes up, looking at the pine tree. It was the tallest tree among those that surrounded the small clearing. A small wisp of smoke trickled from the dead fire. After a while, he shut his eyes again, resting his head on his hands.

…_It's too bright out here, even with my eyes closed. Maybe I should wear a hat._

…_Pokémon don't wear hats. Damn it._

"Where are they?"

"Gone. The one who did it has been taken away. We'll never see him again." _I hope._ There was no need to be any more descriptive than that.

…

"It's your fault."

"How so?"

"When you came, Brother acted different."

He slowly opened his eyes again.

"We always fought away strangers who talked. Like you. He told me not to trust them, or go where they are from. Only to fight them."

Pace continued to watch the swaying of the branches through half-lidded eyes.

"When you came, he changed. He trusted a talker. He told me it was because you helped us, when no one helps each other."

His detached expression never altered.

"You called us cowards and left. He agreed. He told me he was a coward. He didn't want to be a coward anymore, so he wanted to follow you. I didn't understand, but I had to go with him, because Brother was the only one I had."

_I see how it is now._ The clicking in his brain ended as he closed his eyes again. "He was an idiot too, apparently."

Luma looked sharply at him, her cheeks sparking slightly.

"Destroying your old lives because I was dumped in them. Because I said something."

"…" The sparks faded. "Brother always did the best for me." She looked at the remains of the campfire.

"He probably thought so as well, even when he gave his life for me. All your life, he took care of you and mentored you like an older brother should. That never changed. When I showed up, he decided the best thing for you was to go explore outside. When he sacrificed himself, he decided the best thing for you was to let me to guide you outside. To the end, he was an idiot, but a better brother than anyone could ask for."

"…"

"What a pain, that guy," Pace grumbled, "dumping his responsibility for you on me. Doesn't seem like I have much choice but to take care of you now."

"…I still don't like you."

Pace snorted, but quickly regretted it as a spike of pain pierced his chest. "You might have to get me a berry or two first," He gasped. Luma looked at him, nodded, and dashed into the forest. He sighed, closing his eyes again. _Now we just have to find out if he made the right choice._

000

"Okay then," Obsidian said, standing up from the stone bench. "Today, Kaysta, Clay, and Valas will take the mission to Jigsaw Sky, Jaden, Tadayo, and I will take care of patrol duty. That's done. Let's go."

"I still would like a particular reason for you forcing me on this excursion," Valas grumbled, propping his head on his arms as he sat on the edge of the fountain. He was wearing the paint-stained vest again.

"Most likely because you haven't gone on any missions the last week? Perhaps?" Clay suggested sarcastically.

"Give me a break, will you? An artist must produce art, and that's quite difficult to do in the confines of a mystery dungeon."

"Oh, come on Valas!" Jaden told him, hanging upside down in midair. "You're also on this team, so you have to take _some_ missions!"

"That looks ridiculous. Stop it," Obsidian muttered at him.

"But do I have to do patrol duty?" The shaymin whined, still upside down.

The jet-black sableye looked blankly at him back through half-lit eyes. "Yes. You drew a short straw. You have to."

"Well, we'll be on our way," Valas yawned. "We'll just stock up on some supplies and get going. Come on, you two."

The larvitar grunted as he followed. "Okay, we'll meet you guys later! Right here at the southern fountain!" Lynn cheered as she floated after the kirlia.

"…Let's go that way first," Tadayo said, facing the opposite direction.

"He made sense again…" Obsidian sweat-dropped.

"What do you mean? He always makes sense!" The remaining pokémon said.

"Just get back rightside up. You're attracting too much attention." He grumbled as he started to walk away from the large water fountain. It was composed of a single coiling gyarados statue that spat a tall stream of water from its mouth while smaller flows came from the side of each segment. A circle of stone benches surrounded it, along with a variety of pokémon, peacefully minding their own business.

Well, some of them, anyways.

"Hey!" Obsidian grunted as a machop, wearing a black jacket, roughly bumped past him.

"Watch where you're standin', bozo!" The muscled pokémon shouted back as he kept running.

"Can't believe it," Obsidian growled. "The nerve… stealing my wallet like that." The accidentally-on-purpose-bump-and-nab technique was a very common strategy among pickpockets. The sableye didn't even have to check his shoulder bag to know that he would find himself a few hundred poké short.

"Hah hah, you were really careless," Jaden laughed.

"Whatever," Obsidian grumbled. "He's heading for an alley. Idiot. Tadayo! I need your shadow!"

The drifloon continued to bob in the air for a few seconds, as if he hadn't heard him, when he suddenly inflated to three times his size. Without a word, the sableye walked up to Tadayo's shadow and abruptly bent down. His head and torso went straight into the dirt ground, dissolving into the darkness as if it were but a hole.

000

"Heh heh, sucker," The machop chuckled as he slipped into a gap between two stone buildings, away from the milling crowds on the street outside. They cast a heavy shade over the entire alley as the he examined the small bag. "I wonder how much- Ack!"

"Hey. What's up?" Obsidian smirked, pinning the machop's throat to a wall with one arm and holding his coin bag with other. "Thanks for returning my money."

"What?!" He gasped. "How did you… What the!?" The machop noticed that only the top half of the darkness pokémon was present, sticking straight out of the wall.

"Yeah. You're seeing this right," He said as he shoved the bag straight into the machop's shadow. "I can travel through shadows. No use trying to hide from me. Completely pointless." He pulled his empty hand back and released the machop. He stumbled away from Obsidian immediately, holding his hands over his sore neck. He blinked. The sableye was gone.

"Down here."

He looked down. The sableye was back in his shadow, though only his grinning head and two glowing hands, waving back and forth, could be seen. "That's…" The machop gasped fearfully.

"Metronome," He grinned.

A large plume of smoke rose from between the two buildings. Nobody really paid it much attention. It happened all the time.

000

"Why do you suppose it's called that? Jigsaw Sky?" Lynn asked as she slid on the packed dirt road.

"I wouldn't know," Valas shrugged. "Though I did happen to hear that the one to dub it so was a rather…" he paused, as if searching for the right word, "kooky munchlax."

"We've been through it yesterday. It should be quite obvious," Clay quietly said.

"Oh, so why don't you enlighten us?" The kirlia was still peeved about the ice water.

"It's because the parts of trees and plants are all mixed up, like an unsolved jigsaw puzzle," The larvitar simply answered. "It's most noticeable if you're looking up at the tree leaves, where the sky usually is."

"Wow! That's so neat, Clay!" Lynn said in awe.

"It's not hard. Besides, aren't you supposed to be an artist, Valas? _You_ at least should have realized."

"Shut up! I'm new at poetry! Simple music and sketching's where I'm good," He mumbled, looking away.

"That's kind of odd, being new at poetry. I thought you used to be in a rock band."

"Shut up! I wasn't the one who composed the lyrics!"

"Please you two, stop fighting!" Lynn interrupted the two. They stopped talking but tension was still heavy, much to the dratini's disappointment. "Come on, you two…" She sighed. She turned forwards again. "Hey, what's that?"

"Hm?" Valas put a hand over his eyes. "Hey, there's someone up ahead…"

Eventually, they got close enough for a good view.

"Wait," Clay mumbled. "Do you think…"

"Hey! You're hurt!" Lynn shouted, gliding about a foot off the ground to where the heavily bandaged buizel sat, under a tree.

"Kaysta, hold it!" Valas called out. Suddenly, a bolt of electricity hit the ground in front of her, causing the dratini to let out an "eep" of surprise.

"Stay away!" A pachirisu, in one of the upper tree branches, growled threateningly.

"But- But I just want to…" Lynn stuttered. The pachirisu didn't stop to listen, gathering up energy for another steak of lightning.

"Magical Leaf…" Valas suddenly jumped in front of Lynn and formed a large, green glowing mass in the shape of a palm leaf. He forced the stem into the ground and let go just as the pachirisu's lighting hit it. "Dance of the Palm."

His cool moment was ruined when the buizel rushed past the glowing leaf and swung his tail, smacking both Valas and Lynn with a sonic boom. As they stumbled backwards, the buizel prepared to ram into them shoulder first, when Clay suddenly rose from the ground and blocked his attack.

"Dig…" The buizel breathed, leaping backwards.

"Please!" Lynn cried, "We just want to…" The pachirisu interrupted her again, throwing a barrage of star-shaped rays at the group with a swing of her tail.

"Rock Tomb!" Clay immediately slammed his hands into the ground. With a dull flash, a crude wall of stone rose up, easily absorbing the attack. Meanwhile the buizel held out his paws, slowly creating an orb of water between them.

"Not letting you do that," Valas muttered. "Magical Leaf: Dance of the Willow!" He formed another glowing shape, this time, long and thin, almost like a sword. He gripped it like one as he ran at the buizel, preparing to interrupt the attack. Suddenly, the buizel let go of the water. It splashed to the ground noisily as he fell to his knees, gripping his bandaged torso in pain. Valas's eyes widened as he stopped, letting the leaf dissolve away. "Hey, are you…?"

The pachirisu jumped between them, her cheeks sparking threateningly.

"Luma," the buizel breathed, surprising all of them, "stop." The pachirisu looked back at him questioningly, but let the blue sparks fizzle out. "You three, what do you want?" he asked them with a sharp glare. They almost gulped. Despite his ragged breathing, his tone was so commanding, so threatening that they were hesitant to give an answer, as if in fear that it would be the wrong one.

"Well… um…" Lynn mumbled. "You were hurt… so we… we wanted to help!" She finished so quickly and loudly that she flinched at herself.

"…" The buizel regarded them carefully, as if trying to figure out whether or not she was lying. Finally, the buizel nodded and sat back down as the three let out breaths they hadn't realized they were holding. "Fine then. Luma, let them by," he told the pachirisu. She gave them another distrustful glare before backing away.

Lynn nervously glanced at Luma before sliding up to pace, using her tail to prod at the wound and letting out a soft "sorry" whenever he winced.

"So… Luma, huh?" Valas finally said. "That certainly is a pleasant name," he said, smiling at the pachirisu. She only looked away. "…What's yours?" He asked the buizel.

Lynn paused and waited for him to answer. "…Pace," he said.

"…Ah… There's not a lot I can really do like this, Pace," Lynn said. "Valas, I think you should take care of this."

The kirlia sighed. "Healing is not quite my specialty, but I'll see what I can do to assist him." His hands took on a light glow as he held them over the buizel. "Recover." A similar glow began to shine from underneath the bandages, as Pace relaxed slightly. It was over in a few seconds, when the glow receded. "So how is it?"

Pace thought for a bit. "Not much different than if I just ate an oran berry," he shrugged, standing up.

"You're going now?" Clay asked.

"What does it look like?" he grunted in response. "Come on, Luma," he said waving the pachirisu to his side. He began a slow, unsteady walk on the path, in the opposite direction.

The three watched them for a bit, then looked at each other with a unanimous agreement.

"Hey! What are you…!" Pace snapped as Clay grabbed his arm and wrapped it around his back. Luma quickly faced him, sparking again.

"Don't complain. You'll never get to the city at that rate. After all, I'm pretty sure that's not the first time you stopped because of your injuries," The larvitar said simply as he trudged along, supporting Pace.

"Yeah, but… What about you guys?" he asked.

"What about us? We're Watchers. Helping others is what we do."

Pace blinked, along with Luma.

"There is no need to worry. We're perfectly capable of finishing this mission ourselves," The kirlia said. "Right, Lynn?"

"Of course! Clay! Be sure to get him to Jaden!"

"That will take too long. I wouldn't know where to look for him," The larvitar said. "The hospital will be quicker."

"Okay then," Valas said, as he and Kaysta turned back to Jigsaw Sky. "We'll see you later!"

Clay grunted and continued walking. With his support, Pace could move much more quickly than he was previously.

"…Watchers, huh?" Pace said. "What is that, some sort of community service club?"

Clay nearly fell over.

* * *

Yup. Individual rescue team/guild members are called Watchers, which will sound odd if you've read **ScytheRider**'s _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Silver Resistance_. (Drumroll... Whiplash sound effect as *Insert your favorite anime character, movie star, etc.* gives a thumbs-up and says "Best PMD fic out there!") Oh, and if you noticed, I've figured out how to type the little accented é, so I can now spell Pokémon properly from now on. :D

After the last two chapters, comedy is restored! Joutei comes back, and we get a better look at their individual characteristics. Yes, sableye can in fact learn metronome. Surprised? It's only by move tutor in FR/LG, but still. I got the idea for Obsidians' shadow teleportation thingy from the move shadow sneak.

Ah, I ran out of comments.

…

Review!

**Edited 8-23-09**

Redid a few conversations, trying to make the new traits of each member of Joutei more defined. Also, I snuck in a brief battle. Pace was being a bit too trusting considering that his last meeting with strangers nearly got him killed, now that I really think about it.


	6. 1:6 More Inquiry

Damn it, school, I'm trying to write a fanfic.

**EkaSwede: **You can pronounce it that way, but I just pronounce it the same way I do the English word pace. So it rhymes with ace, mace, face, lace, shall I go on?

**kirby163:** And a little more description, please. How do you expect me to make a character out of that?

**Skroy Horitz:** I mean for chapter 4. The original title was something really grim, murderer or something, so I changed it after reading your review. No, I've never played ToV. I only own a DSlite and a Wii. :(

**DelinquentDuo:** Yes. Yes, a thousand times over.

**WoRS:** Erm, an amusing character with amusing antics, but I feel like I need a better perspective to write her.

**The book master:** Like this.

And thank you, **Jeanne Reveur**, **CIaD**, and **ShadowDragoon32** for reviewing! I'll just take your words for it that I'm a decent author.

About the OCs, **SD32** and **CIaD**, I'm afraid to say that your OCs have been rejected, until you can give them actual personalities. Look at **k163**'s response.

***sarcasm* Why yes, I do in fact own the entire pokémon franchise, and I'm only putting this story on a fanfic site because I'm awesome like that! *sarcasm end* Gawd.**

* * *

"Kind of… unsanitary for a hospital, isn't it?" Pace asked, looking at the less-than-white walls behind him.

"It's the best we can do, unfortunately," The milktank sighed. "Now please hold still."

"Yeah, yeah…" He muttered. Luma and the larvitar both sat on some stools near the padded cart where Pace had been deposited, the former watching the proceedings warily.

The milktank brought her hooves around the cowbell that hung around her neck. "_Heal Bell._" The bell was surrounded by a pink glow then began to swing from side to side, creating a series of loud, but soft tones. Pace sighed as each toll ebbed away at his body's pain (much more effectively than the kirlia's recover had), removing a layer of the suffering he had experienced days before. In less than a minute, a wave of fatigue overtook him, and he closed his eyes. Soon, he was deep asleep.

The bell continued to ring a few more times before the glow faded away. The milktank used a cloth in the cart to wipe a few beads of sweat from her brow. "There," She finally said. "Now we will have to replace these bandages, and he should be fine by tomorrow. Whoever treated him first has certainly done a sloppy job, I must say," She muttered. "Now, if you two will excuse me…" She looked expectantly at the pair. Clay shrugged and began to walk away from the cart, towards the curtain that surrounded it, but Luma only stared silently back.

"…Excuse me, but I believe you should leave," The milktank said, unprepared for Luma's response.

"Why?" She simply asked. Clay paused as he shoved aside the curtain opposite the wall.

"Why?! Well, of course… It would be inadvisable to… Look, please just leave me to my work!" The nurse flustered.

"I'm not leaving," Luma told her.

"Now, look here…" The milktank muttered lowly.

"Just let her do what she wants," Clay said loudly. "You're only changing the bandages, correct? I don't see why that would require her absence."

"I… I…" The nurse stuttered, apparently not used to being challenged by patients or otherwise. "Fine then!" She shouted, and quickly turned towards the sleeping buizel. Clay again glanced at the pachirisu before crossing the thick curtain. Looking back at it, he read the large white symbols for **17D**. He made a slight nod, mentally filing the information away, before walking down a hall lined with many similar curtains. If he was right, there was something he needed to check.

000

"Hey."

"AAUUUGH!!" A crash. "Don't scare us like that!!"

"You're too damn noisy. What the hell is scary about 'hey'?" Pace muttered, his eyes still closed.

"That wasn't it! You were just sleeping quietly and suddenly, you just say that out of nowhere!" One of the voices shouted back at him.

"I wasn't sleeping."

"Wasn't sleeping!? You don't think I can tell whether or not someone is sleeping!?"

"Sir! Please be quiet! There are other patients trying to sleep nearby!" The milktank told the owner of the voice rather loudly.

"Well he- Hey!! Ow!!"

Pace finally opened his eyes and turned his head to the side. The milktank's foot was currently grinding the head of the kirlia from earlier into the ground as Luma, the dratini, and the larvitar watched.

"Um, please stop," The dratini was saying. "This is a hospital…"

In response, the nurse lifted her hoof and kicked the bruised kirlia away. "Humph! You should be asleep, you know!" She said to Pace loudly, ignoring the victim. "Simple rest is all fine and well, but sleep is always the best cure!"

"I've pretty much spent the last two days sleeping," Pace growled. The milktank grumbled as she ducked down to grab something from under the cart and turned away.

"…Well, Pace," The dratini said, giving him a smile, "We haven't introduced ourselves yet! My name is Lynn! The larvitar is Clay, and the kirlia is Valas," She told him, pointing to each of them with her tail. "Valas and I finished our mission and decided to give you a visit."

"I see," He said, looking over them. The three of them looked… he couldn't find a word that would describe all three of them. Definitely not the kind of group you'd find everyday.

"Here," The milktank shoved a mug of milk in front of him. "Drink up. It'll help you heal."

He took it and quickly downed the lukewarm drink before he could dwell too long on its origin. "Thanks," He muttered. "So where the hell am I?"

Just about everyone in the room blinked at him. "Um… in a hospital…?" Clay answered slowly.

"I meant the name of this area. I had amnesia a few days ago," He told them.

"Oh, amnesia, is it?" The milktank said. "We can help with…"

"You can tell your psychics to stay the hell out of my head," Pace snapped, giving her a dangerous leer.

"P-Please don't be so mean," Lynn stuttered.

"Just answer the question," The buizel growled, shutting his eyes again as he leaned back on the cart.

"My, aren't we polite?" Valas mumbled. "You're…"

"You're in the city of Jigsaw, in the Steel District, of the Ikona Region. Does that help?" Clay interrupted him.

"Not at all," Pace answered, as Valas shot the larvitar a glare. "What kind of name for a city is Jigsaw?"

"Most cities are named after the nearest mystery dungeon. In this case, Jigsaw Sky."

"…Steel District of the Ikona region…" the buizel mumbled. "Never heard of it."

"Hm…Wait, you've never heard of the Ikona region!?" Clay shouted, losing his composure for the first time. "It's the only one of two developed regions in the world!"

"Two?" Pace repeated with a tone of incredulity. "Only two? Are you serious?"

"Why does that surprise you?" Valas asked him.

"Only two developed regions…" he mumbled, ignoring the kirlia entirely, "what about the rest of them?"

"In the more undeveloped areas, the wilds are somewhat stronger than the ones you find here, and mystery dungeons cover almost a third of the land in those areas, so settling is pretty hard," Clay explained hesitantly, still unsure what to make of Pace's ignorance. "Plenty of explorers have wandered and mapped most of the regions, but we only have a few establishments.

Pace was silent. "…I don't get it. I know that before my amnesia, there was far more than only two developed regions in the world…"

"You knew something from before your amnesia?" Valas asked. "Just how would that work, exactly?"

"…I don't know," he sighed.

"So you don't remember anything?" Clay asked. "Like- where that scar came from?"

Pace blinked at him. "What scar?"

"That one over your eye."

He reached at his face with a paw. Now that it had been mentioned, he could feel a short bare line over his right eye. But still, he still had no idea how he could've gotten it.

"So you don't remember anything," Clay said.

"What do you think amnesia means?" Pace growled. "And why are you so persistent about it?"

"Um… I-I'm sorry that… that you can't remember anything," Lynn said, before Clay came up with an answer. "It must be terrible to not know where you're from…"

Pace glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. "Sorry for what? Did you take my memory or something?"

"What!? N-No! I…!"

"Calm down, that was completely rhetorical."

"You shouldn't be so rude," Valas grumbled, "she's just-"

"Second, are there any humans here? I haven't seen any at all so far." The kirlia fell over at the interruption.

"Why in the world would you ask that?" The miltank asked.

"I also know that before I had amnesia, I lived in an area pretty much dominated by humans," He answered simply.

"Humans don't really dominate anywhere," Clay said, interrupting Valas even as his mouth started to move. "Not enough to. They're a pretty rare sight."

"…First the undeveloped regions, and now, no humans," Pace grumbled. "Just where the hell am I?"

"Um... I don't think you should ask about humans, that much..." Lynn said quietly.

"Why?"

"They've recently... um... became kind of... Well, no one really likes them..." She answered, rather hesitantly.

He didn't respond.

"…Eh…Did he fall asleep?" Valas asked after a while.

The miltank looked over his lightly breathing figure. "It certainly does seem so…"

"Of course I'm awake."

"AAUUUGH!" Another crash.

"Damn it, what the hell is wrong with all of you!?!" Pace barked at them, sitting up. Even Luma had fallen over in surprise.

"We could ask the same of you!" Valas shouted back.

Pace sighed as he leaned back over. "Finally, my last question. What are Watchers?" He growled out.

"Ah, you see, we already summed it up for you," Valas smirked, as if the incident a few seconds ago had never occurred.

"Helping others isn't the most descriptive term one could come up with," He mumbled.

"Well, we are…"

Clay interrupted him again. "The term Watchers came from the word watchmen. We are, as the name implies, all-around peacekeepers in this region. We hunt active criminals, protect civilians, and take on many other such missions."

"So you lot are kind of like police?" Pace asked.

"We pretty much _are _the police around here," he answered. "But there's more organization up in the government's Guardians..."

"Come on! Stop interrupting me, you!!" Valas finally roared in the larvitar's face.

"You just happen to be in the middle of talking when there are more significant things to be said," Clay shrugged.

"More significant things!? I…" The miltank stomped him again.

"I've already told you, other patients are trying to sleep!"

"Then you stop shouting! All of you!" Lynn said, trying to catch their attention.

"Peacekeepers, huh?" Pace sweat-dropped, blankly looking at them. "More like annoying bastards," He sighed, closing his eyes again.

Luma sat on a stool well away from the others. She, too, had trouble understanding these "Watchers." _They help others…_ She dully thought as she watched the miltank tug at Valas' face. "I'm hungry," She finally piped up. The suddenness of the statement paused all activity in the small space.

000

"Watmel, watmel… cheri," Obsidian sighed. "So close. Just one spot off… Okay, then, how about this!?" He jammed two more bronze tokens into the slot machine and pulled the lever. Three small icons of various pokémon sticking their tongues out appeared in the top row with a buzzing sound. The sableye stared blankly at the machine through half-lit eyes. A small display above the wheels declared that the next five rounds would require a double input of tokens.

"Shoot. That second coin. Bad idea." He mumbled, holding his head in his hands. A few other gambling pokemon glanced at him apathetically before looking back at their own slots. Further away, huddles around the roulette and the few card games going on ignore his sighs completely, making too much noise to hear him anyways."Fine then!" He shouted at the machine. "I don't care!" He slammed six tokens into the slot. "Three coins doubled! Take that!!" He shouted dramatically, cranking down the red lever. The reels spun rapidly, the blurred symbols reflecting in Obsidian's anxious eyes. He gulped, watching the flashing colors as each slowed one by one.

Eventually, they came to a stop. "This is…" He gasped. He stood up on his stool. "JACKPOT!!" He roared, laughing out loud for the whole (small) casino to hear. "Victory! I am king of the casino! Fortune is with me! I have conquered the slots! Lucky lucky luck-y! Lucky lucky…"

"Those are cheri berries, not sevens," A voice behind him dead-panned.

Obsidian fell off the stool mid-dance. "Humor me, will you?" He groaned, as the other gamblers, momentarily stunned by his outburst, began to chuckle among themselves. A few clinks could be heard behind him. The sableye stood up and grabbed the five tokens from the small tray. "I can still…"

Valas cut him off, kicking him down the lane of slot machines. "What do you think you're doing, gambling again!?!" He shouted as he dashed after him. "I already told you what we would do to you if you lost any more money!"

"Just- Just give me a minute! I'll win it all back! I'll…"

"Don't you give me that!!" A cloud of dust rose.

000

Luma blinked as she looked at the jet-black sableye, whom Valas had just dragged in the inn.

"Why does he have rocks for eyes?"

Everyone at the table sweat-dropped.

"Well… because that's how his species is…" Lynn answered in a mutter.

Luma nodded. She silently assumed that shadowy wisps that trailed from his body were also a result of how his species was. Technically, they were, but in the same way bruises were for many other species.

"So, Luma," Jaden, in Land Forme, began, "When did you meet Pace?" The buizel in question wasn't present. To their annoyance, the hospital staff had firmly decided that he was unfit for any further exertion that day. He had only sighed and waved Luma off, telling her to go herself. It had taken some convincing to get her to follow through.

"Yesterday," she answered.

A quiet hiss could be heard from the wide pan in the center of the table.

"Ah, I see…" Even Jaden was surprised.

"Don't you believe you are a mite too… attached to him?" Valas asked. Luma only shrugged.

The hiss became a steady bubble.

"It's too quiet…" Tadayo said in his usual dreamy tone.

"Well, sounds like the stew is ready!" Jaden said loudly. "Dig in!"

Clinks were emitted as bowls and utensils were passed out while Valas shut off the small stove built into the short table. All the pokémon sat on the floor or a short chair around the round table, besides Jaden, who, being too short, sat on the table itself. Soon, each of them received a ladle or two of the spicy stew, though Tadayo simply sipped straight from the pan with a straw.

Jaden sighed as he nibbled at his portion, which, like Lynn's, was more leaf and rice than soup. The team usually talked more than this during dinners. The presence of the solitary pachirisu seemed to act as a buffer. Speaking of whom, Luma seemed to be confused about the meal. She glanced around at the others, watching as they handled their chopsticks.

"Here," He told her as he moved closer. He managed to fit the chopsticks into her paws, showing her how to use them. "See? It's simple!"

She looked at it curiously, moving her claws slightly. The ends of the chopsticks moved much more than they should've. She brought them to eye level for closer inspection.

"It's a simple process," Clay explained from her other side. "A few psychics got this idea and started empowering simple human tools for pokémon without the hand dexterity to operate them. Those chopsticks, for example, will move efficiently with minimal willpower and effort and won't let you drop them on accident."

Luma started to look at him oddly rather than the chopsticks. "Just grab the food with them. It's simple," Obsidian told her plainly. She understood that well enough, and was quickly stuffing the vegetables in her mouth.

"Hey, don't eat that quickly!" Clay shouted as the pachirisu finished the solid portion and lifted the bowl to her mouth. "You'll throw up at that rate!"

Luma slammed the bowl down after draining the last of the broth. "Give me more!" She shouted. They all sweat-dropped again.

"Please, don't talk so loudly," Lynn said. "You're kind of attracting a lot of attention…" Many other pokémon at the inn's restaurant had stopped their own meals to look at the group.

"Who cares?" Jaden laughed. "We usually make this much noise anyways!"

"Yeah, thanks to Valas," Obsidian mumbled under his breath.

"Me!?" The kirlia shouted indignantly. "You weren't exactly the quietest soul back when we found you carelessly wasting away our funds!"

"Neither are you," Clay said as the sableye stuttered out a protest.

"Say that again, will you!?"

"You guys, stop it!" Lynn told them.

"Ha ha hah, they never will," Jaden laughed again.

Luma, tired of her empty bowl being neglected, decided to ladle herself more stew alone. Still holding the bowl, she stood up on the table and before anyone could protest, grabbed at the ladle. Her clumsy attempts at the transfer, along with the other's shouting at her, resulted in her slipping and somehow falling off the table.

"Ah, it's noisy again," Tadayo said as all the others quickly stood up and rushed to Luma's side.

000

Pace rested in the dark ward, completely alone except for soft snoring from the curtains on either side of him.

_I don't get it. Only two developed regions in this world and no humans. It's the complete opposite of the world I know. …That I thought I knew. Did that world… even exist?_ …_Everything I thought I knew could be completely obsolete. What if I've never even been a human? What if I had no life before the amnesia? My very name could be completely off._

He shuddered. _Damn it, stop creeping yourself out. You'll never accomplish anything like that. No, I have to keep moving forward. I can't see the path behind me, but I'll never be able to move forward if I keep mucking around in it. Maybe things will get clearer further ahead._ He sighed._ Yeah, I'll do that.  
_

* * *

Not much really happens this chapter. Can you tell I'm influenced by Asian culture? Also, I decided that if Obsidian likes to use metronome, he'd make a good gamble-happy character. And so the casino scene was born. By the way, the last scene, don't let it get to you. I was just having trouble deciding where his thoughts would lead. Good night.

Review!

**Edited 10-24-09**

Pace's inquiry has been lengthened a bit with a important details shoved in, and his final thoughts have a bit more focus to them.


	7. 1:7 Joutei!

…

**the book master:** Ah, what month-old memories… :P Yes, I'm pretty sure I did.

**kirby163:** Umm… okay, then. *ding!* OC accepted.

**Skroy Horitz:** I've always regarded Wigglytuff as one of those "untouchable" characters. I certainly don't plan on letting Jaden become that, though, yes, he's going to be an out-of-the-norm leader. Pace _was_ a human. It's still a key aspect in the story.

**CIaD:** *ding!* OC accepted.

**ShadowDragoon32:** Jaden's origins will be explained at some point, as with that of a several other characters. And I refuse to count Shaymin as legendary. In here, they're just really rare.

**EkaSwede**, **Jeanne Reveur**, and **DelinquentDuo**, thanks for your reviews!

Another note about OCs. I need some villains, please. Not everyone in the story can be some good, always-tries-their-best character. We need, if not antagonists, at least some not-so-nice OCs.

**I don't own Pokémon. **

…**What?**

* * *

Pace turned his head, looking for Luma. The pachirisu was curled up on a stool by his bed, breathing softly. At some point in the night, someone must've covered her with a pink blanket, which she grasped tightly in her paws. He watched her sleep for a few seconds, then looked up at the ceiling, closing his eyes.

…

"Up and at them!" Valas shouted, drawing back the curtain. Pace's mouth became a snarl at the sudden intrusion as a loud thump interrupted the kirlia. He guessed the miltank was behind it.

"How many times do I have to tell you!? Other patients are trying to sleep here!" Yep, the miltank was behind it.

"Like you're one to talk!" Valas shouted back from the ground. "You're louder than I ever was!" Another thump.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys?" Pace grumbled, not bothering to even look at them.

"Honestly," The miltank muttered. "It's time to check your bandages," She told the buizel loudly.

"Well hurry up with it, will you?" He grumbled, sitting up. As she unwound the bandages, Pace glanced down at his torso. Aside from the flattened fur, he noticed that the deep gashes that previously existed had been reduced to thin scars.

"It looks like that's done healing," She noted, running a hoof along one. "Stand up. I want to see how your muscles are faring."

Luma blinked blearily as he complied. She let out a small yawn as she sat up on the stool, blankly noting how tough the dirt was before she remembered she wasn't sleeping on dirt. Glancing around the room, she saw the kirlia from yesterday rubbing his head while Pace did a variety of stretches at the command of the miltank. She sighed softly, looking down. _Brother…_

"Well, I can't find any fault," The nurse finally sighed after forcing Pace to bend his head and arms to meet the ground. "You're free to go," She finally said.

"Finally," He grumbled.

"Excellent!" Valas said. "Come with me! Our team leader would like to meet you!"

"But!" The miltank told them loudly, "He better not get into any strenuous activity today! I don't want him coming back after…"

"Yeah, yeah," Pace muttered. "Come on, Luma," The pachirisu was tugged out of her thoughts as she looked up to see Valas dragging him out of the small room. "Damn it, I can walk, you know," He growled at the kirlia as Luma hopped off her stool to follow them.

The miltank kept watching the curtain even after the three had passed it. "Honestly, kids these days," she muttered as she bent down to pick up the blanket Luma had unknowingly dropped.

000

Pace glanced around the city, taking in the sights as well as he could while Valas continued to drag him quickly. _A world dominated by pokémon, huh?_ He dully thought. _This? Like hell. _It didn't look at all that much different from any human city, just on a smaller scale. Rectangular buildings clearly made of sand-colored bricks formed neat lines by the dirt streets that crisscrossed across the city. They weren't completely uniform, though. Pace noticed several wooden structures scattered around as well as buildings made from clay. The streets themselves were covered in a fine layer of compacted dirt.

Pace felt himself bump roughly into someone. He kept going as Valas kept dragging, but was able to see the quagsire walking away without a complaint. After all, the streets were fairly crowded. He would often hear the calls of merchants calling out their wares, from fruit to orbs, whatever they were, to odd toys to… _Clothes?_ He blinked. Looking around, he realized how common human clothing was. _A granbull with a hooded cloak, a vigoroth wearing a t-shirt, a tyrogue with… um… sunglasses… and… is that hypno seriously wearing trousers?__ That's just… no._ Pace estimated about a half of the roaming pokémon wore some sort of article of clothing, not counting bags. Even Valas, now that he thought about it, was wearing a denim vest under the triangular backpack. _How did I not notice that before?_ He thought as a gap between two buildings let a ray of the morning sun hit his eye. He abruptly pulled away from the kirlia, almost colliding with Luma.

"Hey, what are you…?"

"You have any money on you?" Pace asked, interrupting him.

He grumbled lowly. "Sure, why?"

Without answering, he walked up to one of the closer vending carts. "Hello there! Spot something you like?" The flaaffy donning a headband asked him. A persian eyed him from his resting position next to the stand.

He still gave no response, but simply glanced over the neat rows of hats displayed.

"What, you want a hat?" Valas asked, walking next to him.

He ignored him until he finally saw one that suited him, a navy blue fishing hat with a broad tan band just above the brim and a chinstrap. He pulled it off the rack and placed it on his head experimentally. It fit loosely, even over the tuft of fur on his head. "How much is this one?" He asked.

"Eighty poké to you, sir!" The flaaffy replied brightly. Pace looked at Valas, who, after a while, sighed.

"Fine, but only because it's cheap," He grumbled, reaching into his backpack. He quickly retrieved a small bag with a pull string, and shook out a variety of coins. "Here," He said, handing a few silver ones over.

"Thank you," She said, taking them and handing him a small bronze coin. "And your change. Now…"

"Okay, we're done here," Valas said before grabbing Pace's wrist again and dashing off. Luma, still confused by the exchange, followed. "Was that necessary?" He grumbled.

Pace shrugged. "I feel more comfortable with it on," He said, "though I didn't expect human clothing to be popular here."

"Human clothing? What do you mean by that?" The kirlia blinked.

"…Never mind." _They don't even associate it with humans,_ Pace realized. Valas grunted and focused on running. Soon, the buildings parted to reveal a large, gray fountain.

"I got them!" The kirlia called to a large group, gathered near where the gyarados statue's mouth spat a tall arc of water.

"Ah! We were wondering when you'd get here!" One said as they got closer. Pace blinked at him while Lynn shouted her greeting. Clay nodded his head and grunted in acknowledgement, standing by a pitch-black sableye and a drifloon.

"You're a shaymin?" He asked.

"Of course! Why shouldn't I be?"

"Well, they aren't exactly common," He shrugged, leaning against the fountain.

"Ah, I suppose that's true enough," He laughed, flipping upside down. "I'm Jaden, by the way." Pace glanced at him oddly.

"Don't mind him. He's just weird," The sableye told him. "He's an odd leader. But capable."

"Leader!? Are you shitting me?" Pace gawked.

"Yeah, polite. Just like you described," He dead-panned to Valas, who just nodded silently.

"What, is there a problem with me being leader?" Jaden pouted.

"Yeah, you act like a damn kid," Pace grumbled, deciding to lie down on the edge of the fountain.

"Wah, so mean…"

"Look, did you guys have a reason for dragging us out here or are you just bored?" He growled, his eyes closed.

"Oh, right! We'll skip right to the point then!" Jaden said brightly. "Pace, Luma," The pachirisu's attention snapped to him. "We want you to join our team, Joutei!!"

Luma was silent, only glancing at Pace. Obviously, her decision hinged on the buizel's. "Joutei?" Pace mumbled, opening his eyes. The Watchers looked back at him, awaiting his decision.

"Yeah! It means journey! Come on, it'll be a lot of fun!"

"Why would you want us on your team?" He asked, pulling the hat over his eyes.

"Well, why not? I've heard you're a good fighter, and it doesn't seem like you have anything else you can do! So what do you say?"

"…"

"Hey! Hey! Don't fall asleep on us! I asked you a question!" Valas, Clay and Lynn knowingly turned away.

"Fine, I'll join."

"AAUUUGH!!"

"Damn it, just what the hell is with all of you?!" Pace roared as they all started to stand up.

"That's what we want to ask you!" The sableye, as well as those who turned away, shouted back.

"Ha ha hah, that didn't surprise me at all! I knew you were awake the whole time! Ha ha hah…" Jaden laughed.

Pace cut him off with a glancing smack to the back of his head. "Seriously…"

"I'll join too, then," Luma said.

"Okay then! Two new members have joined Team Joutei!" Jaden cheered, as the others celebrated in their own ways.

"Just remember, don't expect this to be a permanent thing. I don't want to spend my life doing community service," Pace grumbled, though he was, for the most part, ignored.

Lynn, unable to contain herself, coiled around both Pace and Luma. "Yay! This is going to be so much fun! I'll make sure you guys don't regret this!"

"I'm starting to regret it already," The buizel muttered blankly, though the comment, again, went unheard. Luma quickly scrambled away from the dratini, growling.

"Oh, sorry! I couldn't help myself, I just got so excited…" She chuckled as she loosened her grip on Pace.

"Calm down, Lynn. You need some restraint," The sableye sighed, only to receive a foot on the back of his head.

"You're one to talk, Hobbes!" Valas shouted at him. "Remember last night?"

"Hobbes?" Pace blinked.

"It's not Hobbes, it's Obsidian!" The sableye corrected him loudly, holding his head.

"Guys, break it up!" Lynn quickly said. "Ah! Valas! Since we have new team members, how about you play them a song?"

"Hear hear to that!" The kirlia said, pulling off his backpack. He quickly pulled an odd device from it, though a few other items spilled to the dirt ground. They were ignored a Valas unfolded the device.

"A guitar?" Pace muttered. It didn't look too fancy as far as electric guitars went. The body was a thin, irregular quadrilateral that was heavier on the left side. It was mostly ruby red and marble white with a grey, apparently foldable neck and a black shoulder strap. The only problem was, there were no strings. "Um…" He started to point out.

"Watch!" Valas suddenly said, dragging his across the length of the guitar. Under his fingers, six glowing pink lines appeared. He brought his hand to the head stock and, in a few deft movements, attached all the strings to the guitar. "Impressive, no?"

Pace ignored him, looking through the objects that he had dropped. Valas fell over. "You draw too?" He asked, picking up a compact sketchbook. He flipped through the pages, which were covered with neat pencil drawings of various subjects, including still life, landscapes, even a rushed one of Obsidian clawing a yanma. "Can't you make up your mind?" He grumbled.

"Ha, but you see, it's not that simple. I ask you," He said dramatically, "what is art to you?"

"Any kind of creative work," Pace shrugged, sitting by the fountain as he leafed through the sketchbook.

"Precisely! And that is why, as an artist, I have decided not to limit myself, but to pursue any and every form of art! Rhythm! Paints! Literature! Lyric! Sculpture! Even a culinary masterpiece! It matters not to me, for I am an artist!" He finished after striking a dramatic pose.

"Now all we need is one of those glittery backdrops," The buizel deadpanned, causing the kirlia to fall over again.

"Just hurry up and play the song," Obsidian said loudly.

"Okay then!" He said brightly, quickly standing up, hopping on the edge of the fountain, and giving the glowing strings a few experimental flicks. "What shall I play…? Ah hah! This is a good one!" He immediately started to plink out a melody, surprisingly loud and clear for a lone electric guitar.

**"Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me  
I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed  
She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb  
In the shape of an 'L' on her forehead**

**Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming  
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running  
Didn't make sense not to live for fun  
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb**

**So much to do so much to see  
So what's wrong with taking the back streets  
You'll never know if you don't go  
You'll never shine if you don't glow**

**Hey now you're an All Star, get your game on, go play  
Hey now you're a Rock Star, get the show on, get paid  
And all that glitters is gold  
Only shooting stars break the mold**

**It's a cool place and they say it gets colder  
You're bundled up now but wait 'til you get older  
But the meteor men beg to differ  
Judging by the hole in the satellite picture**

**The ice we skate is getting pretty thin  
The waters getting warm so you might as well swim  
My world's on fire how about yours  
That's the way I like it and I never get bored**

**Hey now, you're an All Star, get your game on, go play  
Hey now, you're a Rock Star, get the show on, get paid  
And all that glitters is gold  
Only shooting stars break the mold**

**Hey now, you're an All Star, get your game on, go play  
Hey now, you're a Rock Star, get the show on, get paid  
And all that glitters is gold  
Only shooting stars break the mold**

**Somebody once asked could you spare some change for gas****  
I need to get myself away from this place  
I said yep what a concept, I could use a little fuel myself  
And we could all use a little change**

**Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming  
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running  
Didn't make sense not to live for fun  
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb  
So much to do so much to see  
So what's wrong with taking the back streets  
You'll never know if you don't go  
You'll never shine if you don't glow**

**Hey now, you're an All Star, get your game on, go play  
Hey now, you're a Rock Star, get the show on, get paid  
And all that glitters is gold  
Only shooting stars break the mold..."**

As the last note faded out, a large cheer erupted from around the group. Looking up, Pace saw that the music had attracted a decent crowd of at least twenty pokémon. _Well, I have to admit that was pretty good,_ He shrugged. Suddenly, Obsidian grabbed his hat. "Hey!"

The sableye immediately started to hold it out to the crowd, most of whom were calling for more. He grinned as coins were quickly tossed in. _Greedy bastard_, Pace dully thought as Jaden laughed. Meanwhile, Valas, in response to the cheers, had started another song.

"What is that noise?"

Pace glanced down at Luma, who was staring in rapture at the guitar as the kirlia continued to jam it.

"Music," He shrugged. "Don't think about it to much, just listen to the beat."

"Yeah, you got that right!" Jaden grinned as Luma watched the performance. "You didn't know?"

"She's lived in the wild her entire life until yesterday," Pace explained as he glanced at Obsidian, who sat in front of the hat, still filling up with coins.

"What!? You never said that!"

"Did I?"

"Ha ha hah, this is a really interesting group I've got!" He grinned. "Now all we need are some smiles!" The last line was directed to both of them.

"No," Pace answered flatly.

"Smiles?" Luma asked.

"Yeah! Smile! Like this!" The shaymin told her, demonstrating widely. "No matter how dark it gets, you can always brighten up your day with a smile!" (Behind him, Pace gagged at the cheesiness.)

Luma blinked at him, before trying to contort her face to match his. "Like this?" She bared her teeth feebly.

"Sort of. Come on! Get your cheeks up a bit, you know, like…" Jaden muttered, hovering closer to use his paws to tug her face.

"Idiot," Pace deadpanned as the shaymin got zapped by the contact with her cheeks. Luma blinked again as he leapt back up for another try, undiscouraged. Pace watched the two before sighing. "Just think about what your brother used to do," He muttered.

Luma turned to him with surprise. "Brother? You have a brother?" Jaden asked.

"Had," Pace whispered.

"…Oh…"

Luma looked down for a few seconds, then brought her head up. "Like this?"

"…Yeah, just like that!" Jaden told her. "Except…" He touched the corner of her eye with a paw, "don't cry. You should be happy when you smile!"

Luma nodded, wiping at her other eye. "Okay!" She said loudly, her mouth stretched in a bright grin.

"There! That's perfect!" He laughed. "Just keep smiling, and everything will look a little brighter!"

Pace watched the two of them, before sighing, and leaning back against the fountain. _Dumbass. What kind of philosophy is that?_ Valas had finished the song and was starting on a third, an instrumental. His voice must've been wearing out.

"That's ten members."

Pace's head jerked up, looking at the drifloon. He had forgotten he was there.

"Just one more and we'll be a guild."

"Hey! You're right!" Jaden said, floating up by him.

"Wait, ten?" Pace asked. "Right now, that's… eight. Where's the other two?"

"Ah, they're on an extended mission," Jaden grinned, flipping upside down again. "They left a few days ago, but we'll meet them around the next town. One more member, and we'll be a guild! Ha ha hah! I can't wait!"

Pace sighed, closing his eyes. _Keep moving forward, eh? Forward it is then. I'm pretty curious as to how my life will play out from here._ His perpetual frown lightened slightly as his mind wandered off.

000

"Jaden."

"Yeah, Clay?"

"Are you sure about this? I've warned you..."

"Come on, Clay, you don't seriously think they are they same, do you?"

"It matches the wanted poster! The scar, the fur color..."

"You're forgetting the most important part, the face. That is the face of a Wild. Pace looks nothing like that."

"It's still is too convenient, his amnesia, isn't it? That, and the Wild behaviour, very well may've been an act. Tainted have been known to-"

"Clay. Pace is a teammate now. I won't let you slander him like this."

"...Fine. Leader."

000

**End Part One: A New World**

000

A mawile grunted as a spray of sand flew straight into her eyes. "Kuso!" she growled, rubbing at them. The jaws on the back of her head, marked with an hourglass-like shape, snapped about angrily.

"Kaoru!" A monferno behind her shouted. "Don't let them- No!" He raised a bronze tube to his mouth and blew. A small explosion lit up the clearing, before darkness filled it up again. By the time the dirt cleared, the mawile had recovered from the sand-attack. She approached the scorched earth, but the moonlight revealed nothing. It was only the two of them in a set of evergreen trees.

"They escaped," she said.

"Then what are we waiting for!?" the monferno shouted, pulling the green goggles off his eyes.

"Dalton."

"We have to get out and search for them! They can't have gotten that far!"

"Dalton," Kaoru said again, more loudly. "That's enough."

"What do you mean 'enough'? We can't give up now! We're too close!"

"We have to. Those two are too fast for us alone."

"No they're not!" he shouted hotly. "We're wearing them down! If we-"

"Urusai!"

Dalton stopped at her outburst and slowly looked at her. Her mouth was set in a hard line and her fist were at her side, shaking. "...Sorry," he eventually said. "It's just, we've been chasing those two for over a week. I just want to hurry up and finish the mission."

"...We'll camp here tonight," Kaoru said after a while. "Go get our supplies. I trust you remember where they are."

He nodded. "Yeah," he muttered, walking into the undergrowth around the clearing. He paused, and turned around. "...Kaoru. It's okay. We'll definitely catch those thieves."

She didn't respond, so he turned back and walked through the undergrowth, holding his flaming tail aloft to light the way. The clearing was silent for a while, until the fire disappeared from sight. Suddenly, the mawile let out a cry of rage, throwing a punch at the closest tree. Her fist went straight through the trunk, shattering the wood more easily than a block of styrofoam. Splinters flew everywhere, bouncing of her steel-like skin. Eventually, the entire tree groaned and began to fall. The mawile only pulled out her fist and stepped aside, breathing deeply.

Dalton didn't comment when he returned with their packs to find Kaoru lifting the tree out of the clearing.

* * *

**Lyrics for the song, **_**All Star**_**, by Smash Mouth, found at ****www. elyrics. net**

Long chapter. And so, the next arc begins. Yes, now the mawile speaks Japanese instead of Jaden. It fits better with her background. I bet you didn't expect a song here! And before you ask, no, Valas's fighting style will not at all involve his guitar :P Good night.

Review!

**Edited 11-8-09**

No one stays at the inn anymore. They now apparently have trustworthy security. I also changed the last few scenes around.


	8. 2:1 Stack Wood

Has it seriously been three weeks since my last update? You can blame Phoenix Wright for being so damn epic. I'm actually getting character ideas from those games, lol.

**Serpent's Ballet: **Wow, long review. Well, I'm glad you like it so far. Those OCs… Damn, that will be hard. I try to avoid fluffy crap whenever I can, so I don't see myself writing any "buttering up" anytime soon. Just goes to show how much I need to learn. I'll be sure to do something with these two, but perhaps in the distant future. And I choose masquerain: milotic are too obnoxiously big to be thieves :P Oh, yeah! *Ding! Ding!* OCs accepted.

**the book master:** Heh, heh. If you have time to ask me in a review and wait for me to reply, you could use that time to run to the other side of the planet. If all else fails, the green one. ;)

**DelinquentDuo:** *Ding! Ding! Ding!* OCs accepted.

**Skroy Horitz:** If you hadn't noticed, clothing had already been mentioned a few times, so it's not that sudden. Lol. Heh, heh.

**EkaSwede:** …*whistles innocently* I'll probably try writing my own songs in here one day, but like Valas, poetry and verse are among my weaker skills.

**ShadowDragoon32:** Well, that will be explained later (that's my answer for everything, isn't it?) Specifically, next part. It's the only part that I have already fully figured out. This part, I'm just setting myself a scene to help introduce two major characters and from there, winging it. :P

**Evil*Pikachu:** … This is my WTF face. Remember it.

**ScytheRider**,** Jeanne Reveur**,and **CIaD**, thanks for your reviews!

A note: I realize that, unlike the _Naruto _fanfic readers, not as many of you have much of a grasp on basic Japanese vocabulary (and by basic I mean words you can figure out by watching anime subs :P) so I'll explain new ones as they are used.

Also, Karuu has been renamed Kaoru (didn't know how it was spelled lol), and Dalton has been promoted to monferno. The appropriate edits have been made to last chapter.

**OBJECTION!! Your honor, there is an obvious contradiction in the witness's statement! It is clear that I do not own Pokémon or any related franchise! Therefore, the witness must be lying!!**

000

"A pain in the ass," Pace spat, kicking the unconscious rattata away. He turned around, walking through the dirt ground, held together by interwoven wooden rods. Meanwhile, Luma was holding off two of the rat pokémon on her own. "You too, may I add," he said dryly to Clay as he shoved a leafy branch out of his way.

"Shut up. It's not my fault I got stuck," he grumbled back, half is body covered up by the ground.

Pace rolled his eyes as he pulled the bucket hat, which hung on his neck by the chinstrap, back on top of his head. "Just hold still," he grumbled, before grabbing Clay by the base of his arms and tugging up. "You're too… damn… heavy…" he grunted out as he pulled.

"That's not my fault either," Clay growled as he attempted to wiggle out of the hole, pushing against the larger roots and branches around him. Suddenly, something smacked the back of Pace's head.

"Damn it!" he grunted, twisting around and smartly punching the rattata, which was already unconscious. He glared over at Luma, who dodged another one of the last rattata's bites. "What the hell are you chucking them here for?!" he shouted at her.

"Then don't stand there! Stupid!" she shouted back as the wild lunged again. She quickly dove right by it and swung her tail, unleashing a mass of stars at it. The rattata turned around to receive a face-full of swift at point-blank range and was quickly knocked out.

"Finally," Pace mumbled before turning back to Clay. The larvitar was no longer there. "…Damn it," he muttered, "he fell through." Luma walked up by him to look at the large hole that marked Clay's previous location. "Hey! You still down there?!" Pace hollered down.

"That hurt! Why did you suddenly let go of me like that!?" his voice echoed from below, obviously really pissed.

"A real pain in the ass," Pace mumbled, ignoring him. "Now we have to go through the ground level with him." Luma nodded and quickly hopped into the dark hole. Pace sighed, adjusting his new yellow shoulder bag, before jumping after her. "Are all mystery dungeons this weird?" he mumbled after falling about twelve feet and roughly landing on the dirt. He could hardly see in the dim light, but he was plenty aware of his surroundings nonetheless.

"No, I wouldn't call Jigsaw Sky as weird as this," Clay replied matter-of-factly, though his voice still sounded annoyed. The mystery dungeon, Stack Wood, was basically two forests stacked on top of each other. The dark ground level, where the trio was now, was the bottom forest. The branches of the trees, sporting a variety of broad green leaves, extended into a thin layer of soil above, and supported the roots of the trees of the forest above. So simply, the top forest grew straight into the bottom one. The sunlight only broke through the layer in a few, sparse holes, yet Pace had enough light to see his surroundings. The small group stood for a bit, surrounded by absolute silence of the forest.

"So…" Clay began.

"Shit!"

"Huh?" he blinked, glancing at Pace, who was already dashing away.

"Move!" the buizel roared, as he sped away. Luma, blinking, nimbly followed.

"What do you mean by that!?" Clay called as he trotted after him. "And slow down! I can't run that- GWAAAUUUGH!" Suddenly, a… _something_, an eerie, wicked, looming head rose from the ground and wailed right in his face. Overcome with fear, Clay tripped backwards and rapidly tried to scoot away from the apparition, before pausing. "Wait a minute," he mumbled. A diglett blinked back at him before disappearing back into the ground.

"Astonish," Clay breathed, mentally kicking himself for falling for the move. He growled lowly as he stood up. "Hey, Pace! …Where is he?" he blinked, then sighed. "I guess I… I…" His train of thought ran out of power as the dreaded sixth sense kicked in. A shiver passed up the larvitar's spine as he got the feeling something unpleasant was behind him. He gulped, slowly turned his head, and saw four shadowy faces, all grinning malevolently. As one, they all let off piercing shrieks into his face. This time, Clay let out no cry. His mouth only moved emptily as his lungs pushed out incomprehensible noises. He backed up unsteadily, and again tripped. He continued to stutter incoherently even after all the diglett had disappeared. _Come on,_ he thought furiously to himself. _Move!_ The earth around him began to rumble. Suddenly, clear waves rose in the dirt, surrounding him from four sides. _Move!!_

"Earthquake!" Clay snapped out of the daze with a roar and slammed down on the ground with his arms. The immense shudder cancelled out the earth power attacks surrounding him with massive eruptions of black dirt. In front of him, a single diglett appeared to check on him. He immediately attacked. "Dark Pulse!" he shouted, releasing a black, pulsing wave from his maw. The wave spread out, striking the mole pokémon squarely. With a cry, it cringed, allowing Clay to strike again. He planted his hands back into the ground. "Rock Tomb: Grave Marker!" A chunk of rock suddenly sprang up behind the diglett, and immediately fell over, smashing it back into the ground. Clay, refusing to give it a chance to regroup, jumped and stomped on the dirt. Another earth-tearing shudder rocked the forest. _And one more for good measure!_ he thought furiously, driving a last earthquake through the ground.

He stood in the dark forest for a few seconds, breathing heavily from the three consecutive earthquakes. Seeing that none reappeared after the final attack, he heaved a great sigh. "I guess… I… should find… the other two… now…" He gasped out. When he caught his breath, he walked through the forest, in the direction he guessed the other two went.

000

Pace glanced back, slowing down in his dash. "Where the hell is he?" He grumbled. "Don't tell me he got trapped already." He skidded to a stop and made a sharp u-turn back where he came from. Luma, still blinking in confusion, turned with him, and quickly caught up to him.

"What are we running from?" she asked. Pace didn't answer, but, suddenly called up a spray of water. He launched himself forward, heavily slamming into a phantom-like apparition in front of them. It squealed as the eerie face disappeared, and the diglett slowly fell back into the hole, out cold.

"These things," he growled, pushing the bag towards his back, out of the way, and taking a battle stance. Luma nodded, not questioning its simple appearance. She already knew not to underestimate enemies, and that weak wilds such as that one never travel alone. She warily scanned the forest for any others. "Don't use your electric attacks," Pace breathed. "Just wait for one to show up and throw any other attack at it." Luma nodded again, not taking her eyes from the ground. She saw motion, and struck.

"Wait! Damn it!" Pace roared as Luma disappeared for a quick attack. Images of her dashing momentarily appeared randomly as she made her way. The dugtrio that had appeared reared all three heads back and swung them forward, seemingly pulling her out of thin air. The sucker punch sent her flying, forcing Pace to catch her. "Damn it," he growled again, setting her down. "I only expected another diglett." He quickly glanced over Luma to check her condition, and determined she was fazed, but fine. She growled weakly, rubbing her head.

"Trio-trio! Dugtrio!" the wild shouted out.

Pace glared back at it. "I'd say that you've been digging your own grave," he said quietly, adjusting his hat, "but I'd rather not be guilty of making such a damn awful pun." Luma stood by him, small sparks flying from her cheeks. Immediately, the dugtrio reared its heads back again, this time, shooting out three beams of fire, ice, and electricity. Pace and Luma easily avoided the tri-beam, and Pace burst forward in another aqua jet, splashing water across the dirt. The dugtrio quickly retreated into the dirt, causing Pace to let out a growl as he cancelled the attack. Before even a second passed, the wild appeared ten meters away, calling out its name as it created a shockwave in the dirt. Luma dashed out of the way, behind a tree, as the wave passed. It quickly lost power, so Pace easily leapt over it when it got to him. By then, the dugtrio had disappeared again.

"Luma! Get into the trees and attack from there!" Pace barked out. She immediately obeyed, dashing up the tree to a low branch. The dugtrio resurfaced again, saw her, and began to fire another tri-beam. Pace immediately used pursuit, the dark energy practically pulling him forward. When he got close enough, he quickly punched all three of the heads back into the ground. "Perfect," he said, and slapped his paws together, building up a surge of water between them. Soon, he had a swirling orb of slightly foamy water. "Brine!" He thrust it into the hole the wild left, and gallons of salt water began to pour out of it. Hopefully, the last attack would daze it until...

"Dugtrio-trio!" Pace quickly glanced back to see the dugtrio, rearing its heads back for another attack.

"Idiot," he muttered, the gush of water never wavering. It shot another tri-beam, but a barrage of stars slammed into the dirt in front of it. The swift attack easily cancelled out the tri-beam, and Luma swung her tail again, creating another round of glowing stars. The dugtrio burrowed back into the earth as the stars followed it inside. "A complete idiot," Pace spat, moving to another hole and pouring water down there. After a while, he stopped and tested the soil, pressing into it with a foot. "Soaked," he murmured. "If that one comes back out, it'll be too weak to do anything," He said as Luma jumped down from the tree.

"So we won," she grinned at him.

Pace glared at her silently before letting out a sigh. "Honestly, that smile shit they've fed you," he grumbled.

"Hey!"

They turned their heads towards Clay.

"You should've warned me about those diglett!" the larvitar grumbled at Pace, just loud enough to be heard, as he walked towards them.

"Careful," the buizel muttered.

"Careful what!? I almost became..." he paused, and realized that he was sinking in the dirt. "What is this, some kind of bog!? Hey! Don't just stand there!"

"It doesn't help that he weighs more than a hundred pounds," Pace grumbled to no one as the larvitar continued to sink. "He really is a pain in the ass."

000

"In the mud?" Luma asked, blinking curiously at the box Pace was washing. By now, a bronze gleam could be seen under the thick layer of mud that encased it.

"Yes," Clay sighed. "When I sunk to the bottom of the mud pool, I felt something hard. It definitely wasn't a diglett, or the dugtrio you said you fought," He said skeptically, "So I picked it up. Quite a stroke of luck, coming across the diglett horde that had it… But still, I had to chew about twenty gallons of salt water to get out…" He muttered, gagging. "Couldn't you have flooded the place with another attack?"

"How about twenty gallons of spit?" Pace answered briefly, not looking up from the box. By now, he had uncovered the varnished wood the small chest was made from.

Clay stared at him blankly before turning away, his eye twitching. "Please… don't…"

"So we finished our second mission?" Luma asked.

"Looks like it," Pace said, peering at the bronze lock. "Yeah, there's that symbol. The head of an articuno."

Luma walked up to the box and lifted it up. She shook it, making a minute, thunking rattle. "What's inside?"

"Only the client knows that," Clay answered. "It's not our business. Our job is to bring the box back to the client."

"Seems shady," Pace muttered as he took it from Luma. "I think we should at least check it ourselves," He said as he casually tossed the box into the air and caught it.

"We can't do that. We'd be breaking our client's trust," he muttered as the buizel tossed and caught the box again. "…Don't be so rough on the target!" he growled.

Pace let out another sigh, catching the box a final time. "So now that we've recovered the box, can we leave now?"

"Yes," Clay answered, pulling his bag off again. He dug an arm through it and pulled out a small glass orb, barely three inches across. "Escape Orb, activate!" Clay said loudly, making his voice as clear as possible. The effect was immediate. The orb exploded, sending torrents of shimmering energy all over the three of them. Waves rippled through the air, the world began to waver, and sparks were dancing across their bodies. It was indescribable, and in moments, their very environment had vanished, being replaced by a hard, dirt path surrounded on both sides by trees. Just regular trees. The three had been forced right out of the mystery dungeon.

Pace sighed silently, shaking his head to clear out the chaotic patterns his senses were still throwing about. Luma was even more disoriented, though she struggled not to show it. Clay was, predictably, the least affected, as he was likely quite used to the sensation. _Orbs_, Pace thought. Curious crystal balls that had somehow formed from the chaos that mystery dungeons were composed of. Each had odd powers that could assist anyone traversing or battling in a mystery dungeon, ranging from throwing enemies, warping the user to the staircase, and even petrifying mobs of wilds. However, the orbs had absolutely no effect outside of the dungeons. According to what he had been told, all attempts to reproduce them had utterly failed. The only way to get them was to collect them within a dungeon, or buy them off traders.

"This really is a weird world," Pace muttered, adjusting his grip on the wooden, elaborately decorated box, so that it rested on top of the shoulder bag.

Clay chortled. "You haven't seen half of it," he grinned.

A few clouds blocked the sun from view.

000

A loud crash tore through the sky. Clay stared at it dismayingly. "Rain," he sighed as water began to fall from above. "Come on," he said, "let's get back to the client and return the box. The sooner we get out of this torrent, the better."

Luma nodded, quickly walking after the larvitar along the dirt road of the city. Pace, meanwhile, didn't budge. He only stood in the center of the street, still as a statue.

Clay paused, and glanced at him. "Hey! Aren't you coming?" He suddenly brought his arms up, catching the chest as Pace threw it at him.

"Go on," Pace called back, just loud enough to be heard. "I'll meet you two back at the inn."

The larvitar blinked, then sighed again. "It can't be helped, being a water-type…" He continued to stride briskly through the now-muddy street. Luma was more indecisive, taking a second glance at Pace. The buizel nodded at her, a silent command to leave him. She hesitated, but eventually nodded shortly and dashed up to Clay.

Pace watched them disappear into the heavy rain. Droplets of water hit his body, easily flowing down his waterproof fur. He pulled the hat off again, letting the rain flow down his exposed features. "…Rain…" He muttered, almost in a whisper. He closed his eyes.

Raindrops continued to tap noisily against the tall stone buildings. He stood for at least twenty minutes, letting the water patter his body. Eventually, he glanced behind himself. A nidorino and a glameow stood behind him.

"Why hello, there," the glameow said to him loudly. "What, may I ask, are you doing outside, alone, at this hour?"

Pace glared at the duo silently. "What's wrong with 'this hour'?"

"Well, you see," he continued, slowly slinking closer to him, "that's not quite the point. My point is, it is inadvisable to stand in the middle of the street, by your lonesome self."

"Why?" He gruffly asked.

The glameow let out a chuckle, which the nidorino reciprocated. "You might fall prey to certain outlaws, certain villains," he smiled grimly, "such as ourselves!"

He activated a shadow claw, but before his claw even began to glow, Pace grabbed him by the tail and neatly swung him around, slamming him into the muddy street. "You really aren't all that smart, are you?" he sneered. "Attacking a water-type in this weather. P.S., your little introduction speech sucks big-time."

The glameow quickly shook out of his grasp, jumping behind the nidorino. "You'll pay for that!" He hissed. The nidorino silently lowered his head, pointing a deadly horn straight at the buizel.

Pace glared at them, putting his hat back on. The street was silent for a few seconds as the two sides leered at each other.

The nidorino acted first, firing a small barrage of glowing violet spikes at Pace. He immediately ducked down and dashed forward, passing right under the poison sting. The glameow leapt in front of him and swiped at him, his claws extending and taking on a purple aura. Pace only jumped over the shadow claw and swung his tail around, creating a shock wave that bashed the glameow back into the mud. "Brine." Still in midair, he began to form an orb of water in his right paw, absorbing some of the rainwater. As soon as it was larger than his paw, it began to swing it at the nidorino, who was preparing his own attack. "Horn Attack!" He lunged forward as his forehead spike glowed and suddenly extended, forcing Pace to twist his body to avoid it. The horn grazed his side, but he nonetheless hurled the brine, now as big as his head, at the nidorino. The orb of water pounded the thug in the shoulder like a cannonball, throwing him into the side of a building.

Pace finally landed, glancing at the light scratch on his side from the horn attack. "That's it?" He mumbled. He flexed his paw casually. _This rain… I feel bursting with power now… That must be my ability kicking in: Swift Swim._ He thought. _When surrounded by water, my speed and strength multiply… Though I still feel like I could win without the rain._

"It's far from over!" Pace ducked, barely avoiding the glameow's second shadow claw, aimed at the back of his head. Just as quickly, he leaned back, twisting slightly. "Aqua Jet." With a surge of water, he propelled himself straight into the glameow, ramming shoulder-first into his chest. The thug was thrown into the building on the opposite side, though he quickly got a grip with his feet and leapt forward, forming a crackling black orb within his mouth. Just as he released the shadow ball, Pace stepped to the side, avoiding the nidorino's poison sting attack from behind him. The shadow ball collided with his barrage of poison stings, easily absorbing the few it hit, but most passed right by. Both thugs' eyes widened when they realized what was happening.

"Yeah, not smart at all," Pace said flatly. The shadow ball hit the nidorino squarely between the eyes, exploding in a wave of chaotic energy. He was again hurled backwards, sliding across the muddy street. Meanwhile, the swarm of poison stings flew into the glameow, who then crashed awkwardly into the ground. His skin was peppered with small flecks of blood, and for each, a drop of poison seeped into his body. Before either of them recover, Pace quickly formed two rough orbs of water in his paws and flung them at both of the thugs simultaneously. While neither were as strong as the first brine, the final attacks hit both of them while they were completely off-guard, finishing off the battle easily.

"You…" the glameow gasped out, trying to bear the pain where the brine had slammed him. He struggled to his feet, the poison quickly sapping at his strength. When he looked up, the buizel was in front of him, one-handedly conjuring another brine above his head, and lifting him up by the neck with his left hand. "No... please, stop..."

Pace ignored him. "It's over," he said, as the orb of water swelled. Suddenly, it burst. "What?!" he dropped the glameow, clutching his right arm.

"That's enough!"

000

Holy crapomoly long chapter!

I went through at least three versions of this chapter before settling on this scene. Ugh, now if you will excuse me, I have an essay to write. By tomorrow. Tell me, how can I hate essays so much, yet be an author?! Madness, I tell you!

Review!

**Edited 9-6-09**

Altered Clay's battle slightly, changed the escape orb, clumped on another fight at the end. I just seem to like writing about pokémon beating the stuffing out of each other. :P Actually, the events of this fight were supposed to be "hidden", for lack of a better word, until later on, but I decided there was little point in that.


	9. 2:2 Clash

…*Does card tricks for no apparent reason*

**Flow:** Ah, sorry, I didn't see you there. Hmm… arguably, a bit close to **Serpent's Ballet**'s OCs… Yeah, with what I've got planned, I don't think I can fit them in, however tempting Vigil is…

**Moonlight's Shadow:** Sorry, OCs can't have any history with Pace. I've got his all planned out. Also, every single eeveelution has a role, and I don't feel like I can fit any others in.

**the book master:** …I doubt your sanity. Very, very soon.

**Insan:** Well, I didn't ask you for more description. Question though, would he tolerate violence used by others? And I how could I consider a guy like that a villain? Would he stay away from the good guys and constantly ask for negotiations during battle?

**Skroy Horitz: **What made you think I was implying you? By the way, "Diglett" comes twice, not three times. *laughs evilly*

**ShadowDragoon32:** You've been seeing is the calm, collected Clay who enjoys annoying others. However, after getting stuck in a hole, falling through a dozen feet, left to deal with a swarm of evil diglett, and any other misfortunes that may have occurred before the chapter even started, anyone would lose their cool. Though, now that I seriously look at it, I suppose you're right. I've made adjustments. …Brine isn't a level-up move. I don't really think much about the canon movesets, instead, going by what the pokémon logically should be able to learn. Also, if you're thinking Pace is low level, I'll just say that no one on the team is below 20 (though I'd rather not attach numbers to anyone), and Pace certainly isn't the weakest.

**Writer of Random Stories:** By better perspective, I mean better perspective. You've only given me a few odd habits; I need something more in-depth. Does she act like that to weird everyone out, or is she just simply childish and naive? Does she have any motivation for whatever she does? Etc. Come on, I need to see how she thinks to write how she acts.

**Jeanne Reveur**, **CIaD**, **Serpent's Ballet**, **Evil*Pichu**, **DelinquentDuo**, and **EkaSwede**, thanks for your reviews!

**I claimed all rights to the Pokémon franchise by switching to Geico… Okay, so I lied.**

* * *

Dalton and Kaoru faced the buizel, who was snarling at them. "What the hell was that for?" He growled out, turning to face them.

"We could ask you the same!" Dalton shouted, holding out his staff. "Why are you attacking those two?"

"Simple. They tried to mug me. Are you done with your interrogation?" the buizel snarled, the heavy rain dripping from his soaked hat.

"Then there is no need to attack them anymore," Kaoru stated loudly. "They have been defeated, and are unable to fight back."

"So?"

The two of them blinked in surprise. "S-So!? What do you mean 'so?'!?" Dalton shouted.

"So what if they're defeated? Do you suggest I simply let them go to assault the next hapless passerby? Or perhaps turn them in to a prison and wait for them to serve their sentence, then start again as soon as they're out?" the buizel asked. "Pah, like hell! I plan on making sure they learn a lesson. Speaking of which…" He turned around, where the nidorino was trying to drag the immobile glameow away. He let out a gasp when he realized he'd been caught. "Do you seriously think you can just get away from me?" The buizel suddenly dashed forward, gathering orbs of water in his paws.

"Hold it! Vacuum Wave!" With a shout, Dalton swung out with his staff while Kaoru ran ahead of him. The pulse from the staff blurred through the rain, flying straight at the buizel. He glanced backwards and haphazardly chucked one of the brines, swollen in the heavy rain, backward. It collided with the vacuum wave, canceling the attack with a splash. "No!" Dalton grunted. _At that speed he's going, Kaoru can't get to him in time, but she's too close to fire another wave!_

Suddenly, just as the buizel caught up to them, the mud around the two retreating thugs rose up and pulled the two thugs in with hardly a sound. "What?!" All three of the remaining pokémon shouted. Kaoru ran up by the buizel to where they disappeared, and Dalton arrived soon after.

"Dig."

"Nani?" Both of them asked, looking at the buizel. He glanced at them oddly (_Oops. I spoke Japanese too,_ Dalton thought), but he shook his head.

"Someone from outside used dig to rescue these two," he explained briefly.

"Someone from… but the nidorino could've used it, couldn't he?" Kaoru asked.

"Dumbass," he snarled. "If he knew it, he would've used it before trying to run. And before I forget…" There was a flash of movement. Before they knew what was happening, the buizel had grabbed both of them by the face.

"W-What are-!?" Dalton shouted, his hands flying up to the paw gripping his head. Before they reached, the buizel slammer the two into the mud face-first. "P-Pht- Pah!" Dalton coughed, spitting out the mud. "Wh-What was that for!?" He shouted, wiping at his face. Kaoru, meanwhile, snarled and lashed at the buizel with the massive jaw on the back of her head. He fell backwards, avoiding the gnashing teeth, and rolled back on his feet, out of range.

"That was for getting in my way," the buizel spat, adjusting his hat and turning away. "Thanks to you, there's no telling where those thugs are now." He began to walk away.

"H-Hey!" Dalton called out. "Where are you going now?!"

"I'm feeling pissed this evening and I don't feel like wasting anymore time with you," he said without so much as a backwards glance. "Let's not meet again." The rain quickly consumed his figure.

"…That… that guy…" Dalton growled. "I can't believe he just… he did that to those guys and acted like it was nothing…" His tail, which had been long put out by the rain, was beginning to steam as his inner flame was stoked by his anger. "Just… just who does he think he is!?" he shouted, before gripping his temple. _Come on… calm down…_ he thought to himself. It wouldn't do to lose his temper here. _Think about something else…_ He glanced down. _Now my goggles are all muddy. Maybe the rain can be good for something. _He pulled them off and let the falling water rinse them. He glanced at Kaoru and flinched when he saw that she was, if anything, more angry than he was. Her glare was searing holes into the ground in front of her and her fists were clenched so hard, they shook.

"…Kaoru, forget it," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "That was just a fluke. He was a water-type in the rain. Ordinarily, he wouldn't stand a chance against us."

He sighed in relief as her rage subsided. "Sou deshou ne…" the mawile mumbled, looking off. "But I want to meet him again," she continued, a determined gleam setting in her eye. "We will meet again, whether or not he wants to."

Dalton looked at her, then faced forward. "Maybe… Come on, let's hurry up and get out of this rain. The team should be here somewhere."

Kaoru nodded, and the two set off again through the drenched streets.

000

"Fools."

The two thugs lay prostrate before a single figure, who looked down on them from where she leaned against the wall of the alley.

"We… We're truly sorry… we…" the nidorino gasped out, not looking up.

"You were quite idiotic. Attacking a buizel in the rain. A foolhardily, witless, daft, ludicrous maneuver. You were lucky I don't mind the rain, otherwise, I wouldn't have been remotely nearby to aid you two."

"Yes! We apologize for inconveniencing you! Please forgive us!" he shouted without hesitation.

The lopunny clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Honestly, do believe I make my way by torturing any subordinate who displeases me? Your lack of foresight is forgiven," she said with a wave of her arm.

"Th-thank you!" the nidorino shouted. "But… he…" He glanced at the glameow worriedly. He was laying flat down, not out of fear of the lopunny, but because of the poison running through his body.

"He won't die, you fool," the lopunny said, in an annoyed tone. "Battle poisons are only fatal in extreme cases. Speaking of which, I would've assumed you'd keep an appropriate berry in case of such an event."

"Um…"

Suddenly, a pokémon rose from the ground beside them, and after a quick glance around, the aron did a quick salute at the lopunny (at least, as well as a steel-covered rodent could salute). "Yes Ma'am!? You called for me!?"

"Take this glameow back to the base, and have his poison treated," she dismissively said with another wave of her arm. "Take the nido too," she added. "I doubt he could get any income tonight."

"I'm sorry, Ma'am."

"Stop apologizing. It's becoming repetitive."

"Sor- Yes Ma'am." After this, the aron gave her another salute, before draping the glameow over his back and digging into the ground, with the nidorino crawling after.

The lopunny was left alone in the alley for a few seconds. Then she grinned. "Hm… that buizel… things may've become interesting…"

000

"Psychic!" Valas yelled, creating a tide of light-bending energy to surge through the restaurant. It grabbed an empty circular table, and slammed it upside-down on top of a breloom.

"Ow! That hurt!" he shouted, his breath short from the weight on top of him.

"And that's what happens when you ruin my still life!" the kirlia shouted back at him.

"That's all!?" Obsidian shouted at him, dodging a kick from a machop. "They're trying to squash me! Like a pancake! And you're worried about a sketch!?" The machop threw a punch, which Obsidian quickly ducked under, disappearing into his shadow as he did so.

"Hey! Get out here and fight, coward!" the machop yelled out as the sableye crawled out of Valas's shadow. Meanwhile, the breloom used his tail to knock the table off himself.

"Yeesh, you two!" a loud voice shouted from the counter of the bar. "Can't you clean up the mess faster!?" The toxicroak growled, leaning against the counter on his elbows.

"Yes, right away, Boss!" the machop eagerly shouted, throwing a quick salute.

"But…" the breloom muttered, before sighing and unhappily turning towards the two. Obsidian and Valas both began their own attacks.

"Metronome!"

"Icy Wind!"

What appeared to be a glowing green rope suddenly materialized in Obsidian's hands. He grinned, and dashed toward the machop. He flicked his wrist slightly, and the cord extended, lashing out at the machop. "Vine Whip!"

"That all you got?" the machop grinned, snatching the end of the rope moments before it hit him. Obsidian gasped as he gave the cord a great tug, pulling the sableye over to himself. As Obsidian flew forward, the whip disintegrated as quickly as it had appeared, and the machop began his next move. He swung his arm forward, neatly karate chopping the Obsidian into the dirt ground of the room. The sableye groaned weakly at the abuse. "Now, to finish you!" the machop grinned wickedly, raising his both of his arms in the air.

"Magical Leaf: Dance of the Pines!" A barrage of small green needles slammed into the machop, throwing him off his feet. He flew backwards, crashing into another table.

"Valas!" Obsidian exclaimed, looking at the kirlia. "Already!? You're done!?"

"He was a real nothing," he shrugged. "No bark, no bite, at all."

Obsidian glanced back at the breloom, who was, again, under the table. This time, it was in two halves and encased in a layer of ice. "I see…" he muttered, rubbing his head.

"Though I'm curious, how did he land a hit on you? Couldn't you just phase through the assault like usual?"

"Useless," the sableye mumbled, getting to his feet. "He used foresight. No phasing past that."

"What!? You beat Keno!? I'll get you for that!" the machop shouted at them, struggling up from the remains of the table he had crashed into. He suddenly let out a strangled choke as Obsidian appeared in his shadow and grabbed his neck from behind.

"Your turn," he grunted, tucking the machop's head under his elbow so that his hands were free to use metronome. "Will-o-Wisp." The machop gasped as a blue flare consumed his body. Obsidian let him go, allowing him jump away and roll across the ground in an attempt to put the ethereal flames out. Somehow, although he felt no heat, his skin was racked with scorching pain. Within a few seconds, the flames died out, leaving him with painful burns all over his body. He stood up, panting.

"He's still looking for a fight?" Valas muttered. The machop glared defiantly back at him. "He doesn't seem to know when one must give up," he sighed, stretching his arms out in front of himself. "I'll finish this up quickly."

"Please do," Obsidian mumbled. "This is dragging on. It's been forever."

Red slips, shaped like maple leaves, began to circle around his hands before coming to a stop, forming a pair of weapons reminiscent of ninja stars. "Magical Leaf: Dance of the Maple," Valas muttered, before dashing forward and swinging the red leaves. They spun like buzz saws as he shoved them straight into the machop's torso. No blood was spilt, but the force hurled him straight into the wall, leaving a slight crater in the brickwork.

"That does it."

"Oh, yeah, we forgot about you," Valas muttered, letting the spinning leaves fade away.

The toxicroak roughly sat up, toppling the stool he was sitting on. "Looking down on Team Lowblow like that. Looks like I'll have to deal with you miscreants myself."

"Miscreants?" Valas chuckled. "I must admit, that's a term I myself have never heard used to describe us. By the way, you may want to take a look behind you."

"Huh?"

Valas used psychic to pull the stool from behind the toxicroak, smacking his face on the way. It flew neatly into the kirlia's grasp.

"Now that's-!"

The psychic force interrupted him, hurling the stool back into his face. It noisily bounced away as he reeled back.

"Why you!! I'm getting tired of this!" the toxicroak growled dangerously.

"Hey, behind you. For real," Valas said blankly.

"If you think I'm going to-"

"Nuclear launch detected."

"…What?" The toxicroak glanced backwards. Standing on the counter was Obsidian, who was holding Tadayo, inflated to twice his usual size, by the sides.

"This is not a drill. I repeat, I do not have a drill," the drifloon continued, growing in size again, still in Obsidian's grasp. "Please relocate yourself under a solid object and, if practical, place your hands or any appendage over your neck if you have one…"

"If this is some sort of joke, it's a bad one," the toxicroak finally growled. "I'll shut you up myself!" With a roar, he swung an arm, the claw on his hand glowing a purple color. Tadayo inflated again just as the toxicroak struck him, and the fist sunk into his rubbery skin before it bounced right out. "What the-?"

Obsidian grinned, just barely gripping Tadayo, who, at this point, had grown larger than himself. "Eat this."

"And have a nice day." Just like that, the small yellow bandages on Tadayo's face flew off at one end, revealing the tiny mouth underneath them. Out of that tiny mouth, came a ridiculously large white beam. The ridiculously large white beam slammed into the toxicroak and sent him sailing into the wall next to the door, perfectly unconscious.

"Heh," Obsidian grinned, "stockpile and spit up. Awesome moves."

"Nice performance, Hobbes, Valas," Clay slowly clapped from a table.

A vein throbbed in the sableye's head. "It's not Hobbes, it's Obsidian!" he shouted, aiming the deflated Tadayo at him.

"And we could do without sarcasm!" Valas yelled with him.

"You're shouting again…" Lynn mumbled, almost inaudibly.

"I still don't understand why we couldn't help," Luma muttered to Jaden, in Land Forme, while the others began a shouting match. A mostly one-sided one.

"Oh, we could've," he grinned, "but we didn't need to."

"Man, what have you guys done this time?"

All heads in the bar, besides the ones that couldn't, turned to the open door, where two, soaked figures stood.

"Dalton! Kaoru! You're back!" Jaden shouted cheerfully, hopping off the table to run up to the pair as the door was slammed shut. Lynn gave her own greeting, quickly following.

"You're quite late, too," Valas muttered, rearranging a candle and a flower vase on a small table. "It's been- like- nine, ten days since you left on that mission? You should've met up with us back at Jigsaw," he said as he sat down near the table, repositioning a bowl and a box with various watercolor paints inside. He picked up a paintbrush and a clipboard with a half-finished painting, and got to work.

"Felt like a month, actually," the monferno mumbled, scratching his collar. His tail made a few flicks, flinging away excess rainwater, before igniting into a crackling flare.

"Konbanwa. It is good to see you again, Jaden-sama," the mawile said softly as she made a low bow, water dripping from the two large locks of steely hair. "And the rest of you," she said with another bow.

"Hey, hey! No need to be so formal with us!" Jaden smiled as he came to a stop in front of the two. "But it's good to see you too!" Lynn agreed by wrapping herself around the two newcomers in a hug.

"Yay! I'm really glad to see you two again!" She laughed, writhing around and between the two.

"Calm down! We're happy too, okay?!" Dalton shouted as they tried to shove her off. She chuckled an apology as she drifted away, her tail rubbing a spot Kaoru had "accidentally" bitten. The mawile was less than enthusiastic about physical contact. "So…" the monferno muttered, looking at the dazed toxicroak, the burnt machop and the frozen table, "what did happen here?"

"Hobbes was…" Clay started to explain.

"It's not Hobbes, it's Obsidian."

"I know you're Hobbes. Anyways, he was playing poker with the toxicroak, when suddenly, he started shouting about Hobbes cheating," Clay continued, grinning at the sableye's reaction.

"Cheating?"

"Yeah. There were five jacks out at the same time," Obsidian muttered, leering at Clay. "I don't cheat. Seriously. He was just pinning it on me."

"Anyways, he sent the machop and the breloom, the one under that table, after him, and while they were fighting, they messed up Valas's sketch, so he got involved. Eventually, Hobbes had Tadayo finish them off," Clay finished.

"Just another evening, huh?" Dalton chuckled, swinging off his backpack and the staff attached to it.

"Yup!" Jaden said proudly.

"Dalton!" Valas suddenly called. "May I make use of your tail? To dry the paints more quickly?"

"Fine, fine," the monferno sighed, walking next to Valas. He turned around with his tail aloft, and Valas grabbed it, well away from the tip, to guide the flame.

"So… How was it? Did you two get the bounty?" Obsidian asked.

The two of them were silent. The glanced at each other, and Kaoru finally sighed. "We… failed to," she said.

"Failed?! How come?" Jaden asked, surprise crossing his face.

"Gomen… The thieves were… too fast for us. We couldn't keep up with them long enough to subdue them," she explained hesitantly.

"Not even Dalton's attacks?" Kaoru shook her head. "Wow, they must be something else then…" Jaden mused, his voice trailing off.

"Yeah, they really were," Dalton muttered, scratching his furry collar again. "We'll need backup to catch them."

"Huh? You're still trying?" Lynn asked.

"Of course! When I take a mission, I finish it!" He said with a dramatic fist pump.

"Careful!" Valas shouted. "Your tail nearly singed my face when you said that!"

"Ah, sorry!" Dalton chuckled. "I'll be more careful with it." His burst of enthusiasm likely caused his tail flame to flare up. Valas let out a grumble as he shoved the tail away and got back to painting. "Anyways, we stopped pursuing the thieves not far from here, so we can get back on their trail quickly."

"Around here?" Clay asked, raising a brow. "That's convenient, isn't it?"

"Who are those two? Do you know them?" Luma finally asked.

"Huh? Who's she?" the monferno quickly asked, pointing at her.

"Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you!" Jaden exclaimed. "We got two new Watchers on our team while you were gone! This is Luma, Luma, this is Dalton and Kaoru!"

"Ah, Hajimemashite," Kaoru said, giving her a bow.

"It's nice to meet you," Dalton grinned, holding out a hand to the shorter pokémon. Luma, after looking at Kaoru confusedly, turned to blink at Dalton's outstretched hand. Then she remembered she was supposed to shake it and promptly did so, rather energetically. "Hey, don't pull my arm off!" He protested, pulling the limb back.

"Aren't you supposed to do that?" Luma asked, tilting her head.

"Bear with her," Clay sighed before Dalton could shout. "She's been living in isolation until less than a week ago."

"Isolation?"

"She spent her life in a mystery dungeon, according to Pace," Obsidian explained.

"Pace?" Kaoru asked.

"Yeah, he's the second new member," Obsidian shrugged. "Well, technically, he's the first by a few seconds…"

"Where is he, then?" Kaoru asked, looking around the small restaurant.

"He's just taking a walk, I suppose," Clay explained. "I'm not sure when he'll get back."

"Taking a walk? In this weather?" Dalton asked incredulously.

"Not everybody keeps the end of their tail on fire," the larvitar stated shortly.

"Ah, yeah… but still, who enjoys taking walks in the rain?"

"Take a guess."

"A water-type…?" Kaoru murmured, looking up thoughtfully.

"Bingo," Obsidian said. "A buizel. Specifically."

The two of them flinched. "A… buizel?"

"Um, yes," Lynn confirmed. "Is… Is there something wrong?" she asked, looking between them.

"Well…" Dalton mumbled, fiddling with his goggles. Kaoru cut him off.

"It's not important," she said dismissively.

Clay raised a brow. "Whatever you say, princess," he finally shrugged. He grinned as she clenched her fist in irritation. A loud noise interrupted all thought.

"…Ah, that's right! You two haven't eaten yet!" Jaden grinned, in response to Dalton's stomach.

"Yeah, no, we haven't," He replied, rubbing his head.

"Right!" Obsidian said. "Hey! Chef! Two more customers! Make something! Chop chop!" He called, sitting down at a table.

"And for me!" Luma promptly shouted after him.

"Hey. No more. You already ate," Obsidian sweat-dropped, looking at her.

"Oh, so after you wreck my shop, you ignore me for ten minutes, and now, that you're hungry, you want me?" The chef, a disgruntled rotom, growled.

"…Yes."

It suppressed an eye twitch, and turned to a refrigerator behind the counter, possessing it.

"We'll take black noodles if you have them!" Dalton called as a few items were shoved out of the fridge. "So, anyways, we want to get back to the pursuit as soon as possible. Like, tomorrow soon as possible," He said to Jaden as they sat down at the table. "And we'll need an extra hand. Probably Hobbes."

"It's not Hobbes, it's Obsidian."

"No," Clay said, "if they're as fast as you say, Hobbes will only be able to keep up with them, but be unable to slow them down. Besides, it's hard to depend on metronome when you need it the most."

Obsidian bristled with annoyance at the remarks. "Don't underestimate luck," he practically growled out.

"Obsidian, please calm down..." Lynn said.

"Actually," Jaden muttered, looking up in thought, "I think it may be a good idea to let you have some experience with the new guys," he mused.

"The new guys?" Dalton asked, glancing back at Luma. "Are you sure about sending new guys after the thieves _we_ couldn't catch?"

"You should not make such presumptions before witnessing their abilities," Valas suddenly stated. He had pulled his painting off the easel and was inspecting it critically. "If speed is your problem, than it won't be for much longer with them."

"You're really sure about these two, aren't you?" Kaoru said, taking another look at the pachirisu.

"Of course!" Jaden grinned.

* * *

Yes, Tadayo's main purpose is as a weapon of mass destruction. In a pinch, somebody can swing him around and use him both as a shield and a cannon. He doesn't really mind; in fact, since he's not much more than a balloon, aiming attacks alone is difficult for him. Besides, he's so much more fun like that.

Yesz! Finally got some OCs in! Even if they didn't really do anything but get the crap beaten out of them! Thank you, **DelinquentDuo**, for the three members of Team Lowblow.

000

**New Japanese Vocabulary**

Nani? - What?

Sou deshou ne - I suppose

Konbanwa - Good evening

_-sama - A highly respectful honorific

Gomen [nesai] - Sorry

Hajimemashite - Nice to meet you

000

By the way, finals are over! And now I can spend my summer going to summer school! Yeah!... Bleagh. I also have a few weeks of vacation coming up, so don't hold your breath.

Review!

**Edited 9-14-09**

Wow, now it's a pretty darn long chapter. Like, almost 5K words long. Changed the first scene into a continuation from last chapter as well as splitting into two scenes. No one's at the inn, and yeah. Oh, and Dalton also knows some Japanese, but apparently, he doesn't use it half as often as Kaoru.


	10. AUTHORZ NOTE LOL

**Author's Note!!!!!!!!!1337!!!!!eleven!!!!!qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm**

Yeah I hate author notes. I hate making them even more.

And no, I haven't died off. Yet. *throws confetti* My four-month disappearance can be attributed to SAT cram school (which has not helped my essays one bit), World of Warcraft, Elite Beat Agents, actual school, more Phoenix Wright, and TVTropes. Yeah.

No, I'm not going to scrap this story and start a new one _again_, thank goodness. Only the current part. This just kind of a heads-up for those of you who don't look at my profile. Basically, the current arc I had planned has been scrapped, apologies to **The Bookmaster** and **Kirby163** for not following through with my promise to include their OCs this arc. So yeah, I will be deleting the last two chapters (and this author note) and will get to work on the new arc. Eventually. In the mean time, feel free to tell me what you think of my other fic, _Master Quest_, which is somewhat more active at the moment.

Normally, this is where I'd tell you to review, but… meh.


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